Saving Time
by Joshua The Evil Guy
Summary: Innortal-Style Infinite Loop Fic Emma Swan is the Savior, and apparently the gods decided she didn't do her job right, so they're giving her as many chances to get it right as they want. Except, somebody forgot to set the end parameters before running the program...
1. Emma's Loop 1

Title: Saving Time

Author: JoshuAB

Disclaimer: Once Upon A Time, and all associated characters, are owned by ABC, and by proxy, Disney. I am not a part of the Disney family, so I have no ownership of anything really. Spoilers for seasons one thru present for the show. Any and all crossovers are likewise not making me any money, so don't sue me even if I don't itemize every single crossover, whether character, event, setting, or plot device. And while this is an 'Infinite Loop' Fanfic, it no longer has any direct association with the SpaceBattle Forum's _Infinite Loop Project_. Please Enjoy!

Summary: Infinite Loop Fic Emma Swan is the Savior, and apparently the gods decided she didn't do her job right, so they're giving her as many chances to get it right as they want. Except, somebody forgot to set the end parameters before running the program...

(EDIT for Line-Breaks done on 5/28/18)

First Season:

Emma Swan's eyes snapped open as she came awake in the jail cell.

Sitting up, and ignoring Grumpy's-sorry, _Leroy's_ whistling, she took stock of everything. It was like the third or fourth time she'd been through this whole thing, and quite frankly she was just glad that it started where and when it did. It gave her a headache most times she tried to imagine or remember every little thing that she could about everything that happened and which lead to Henry bringing her to Storybrooke the first time. Hell, other than some vague notion of Regina feeding her a load of crap (and some pretty good apple cider), she didn't even remember what her and Regina's first words to each other were. Besides, everything that followed for the next ten or twelve months kind of overshadowed whatever first impressions they made on each other.

Besides, the Savior mused as she worked out the kinks in her back, she was about to make a whole new set of 'first impressions'.

She wasn't sure who, what, or particularly _why_ this was going on, but after three or four times, she felt old hat at it really and had no intention of taking pretty much anything seriously anymore. Not unless she was forced to, that is.

Whatever 'this' was, she chose to identify it as a big ass time loop. Same start point; her first 'day' in Storybrooke, but the end point was whenever she finally died. First time it happened, she'd been worrying herself sick about some 'savior vision' of her death, fighting a hooded figure with a magic sword while running around trying to stop the Evil Queen. And then, well, she'd died, been killed… and woke up in the jail cell, just like she was doing now. Time after that, she'd reset after Regina killed herself to stop the Evil Queen, even after Emma had won her 'duel with destiny' (the person under the hood seemed to change each time, the only thing certain was the hood, the sword, and the fight). Last couple times, either Henry or one of her parents had died.

Way she figured it, the loop only reset upon the irreversible death of a member of her family, and… apparently Regina counted as family, but Hook and others did not. Thankfully, despite being Henry's biological grandfather, Rumplestiltskin did _not_ count as family. At least not insofar as these time loops were concerned.

What was really awesome, though? In spite of the dangers and threats in their lives as part of the 'Charming clan', they were _all_ good enough to survive on their own with hardly any help from her. Y'know, until the Evil Queen was separated from Regina that is. She _really_ needed to stop that this time.

Leroy, Marco and Graham (oh yeah, something else to nip in the bud) all said what they always say in this scene, and Emma replied with her standard responses. Until Regina came in, panicked over Henry's disappearance that is. At that point, she'd fully embraced the whole 'Screw It!' mentality in regards to future causality. If the future were worth preserving, she wouldn't be repeating the past to change it.

"Graham?" Regina called out as she rushed into the room. "Henry's run away again, we have to…" She stopped upon seeing Emma in the jail cell. "What is _she_ doing here? Do you know where he is?"

"Lady," Emma repeated what she'd said before, with some variations, "I haven't seen him since I dropped him at your house, and just between us girls and the bars, I'm more than a little sure my alibi will hold up in court."

Grimacing, Regina replied, "Yeah, well, he wasn't in his room this morning."

Here's where Emma started to have fun with everything.

"Did you check under his bed? In the closet? Oh! In the attic! Used to love hiding in the attic!" Emma said with a grin.

* * *

"Did you check in the car?"

* * *

"Did you check with his teachers?"

* * *

"Did you check the docks? He might be boarding a boat!"

* * *

"Did you check the bus station? Train station? Set up roadblocks? He's already proved that he is a flight risk. Calling in the FBI, National Guard, and State Troopers wouldn't be overkill for a known fugitive."

* * *

"Did you try his friends?"

Fidgeting, Regina shrugged as she answered, "He doesn't really have any. Kind of a loner."

"Everybody has friends," Emma pointed out. "You just have to know who to ask and how to ask them. How about enemies? Sometimes your enemy is actually your best friend in disguise. Or something like that. If you need help shaking them down, I'm _great_ at interrogations. This one time, at band camp…"

* * *

"Did you try his girlfriend?"

Fidgeting, Regina shook her head as she answered, "He doesn't have one. And really, he's too young for that sort of thing!"

"Oh come on," Emma cajoled her. "Everyone has a girlfriend, or two. Hell, even _I_ have a girlfriend." She winked salaciously at the black-haired mayor.

* * *

"Graham?" Regina called out as she rushed into the room. "Henry's run away again, we have to…" She stopped upon seeing Emma in the jail cell. "What is _she_ doing here? Do you know where he is?"

"Babe, I haven't seen him since I dropped him off at home, what?" Emma said as she glanced at the wall clock, " _Five_ hours ago? Geez, you really don't know how to hold onto the kid, do you? And, he ain't here, as you can see, so I don't got him. Graham, d'ya think Leroy maybe had him? Or the janitor, Marco? Maybe he's with his shrink?"

Scowling, it was clear the adoptive mother was about to go all 'Evil Queen' on her, so she hastily spoke. "What makes you think that he didn't just get up early and go to school already, or whatever?"

Grimacing, Regina replied, "Yeah, well, he wasn't in his room this morning."

"Obviously," Emma interrupted. "Doesn't mean he 'ran away'!" She even did the air-quotes thing.

"We have a strict routine, if you must know, Ms. Swan, and the fact remains that I don't know where my son is, so I need help finding him!"

"And you go to the sheriff for that?" she asked slowly, as though trying to make a point.

"Sheriff Hubbard is excellent at his job," Regina recited in that tone she gave when fully immersed in her 'role' as Mayor, meaning that she didn't believe a word she was saying but it was something the 'Mayor' believed and had to say.

"Not the point, but sure, let's go with that," Emma giggled. "The sole person responsible for the safety and wellbeing of all three-thousand, four-hundred, and twenty- _five_ citizens of a one hundred square mile township is so exceedingly excellent at his job that rather than assign one of his," she paused and made an over exaggerated motion of counting the desks in the office area, "one, two, three, _four_ deputies, he'll drop everything at your say so to go and track down a _ten-year-old boy_ ," she finished in a deadpan with a flat stare.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" Regina practically roared at her, coming right up to the bars, visibly snarling.

Emma then got right up in the black-haired woman's face, pushing up against the bars to get as close to the unnerved and enraged Mayor as she could. "Now that, is my point. And also something that you should've asked last night. I'm a bounty hunter. Finding people is what I do. Do you really think that Henry found me because of a google search or something? Finding, is kind of in my blood, you could say. You want Henry found, let me out, all charges dropped, and he'll be back home within the hour. Or."

"Or what?" the Evil Queen growled from beneath the facade.

Emma rested her chin on the bars and gave her the best 'innocent eyes' Emma had ever done. She'd practiced throughout several loops by now and had it down so well it may as well be yet another super power next to her lie-detector thing.

"Or not," she said in a tone so angelic that butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

Regina scowled and ordered Emma released.

For the rest of that loop, anytime Emma wanted something from Regina and/or the Evil Queen, she'd just give her the 'angel eyes' routine and she caved almost instantly.

* * *

"As we build our birdhouses, remember," teacher Mary Margaret said to her class, "What you're making is a home. Not a cage. A bird is free, and will do what it will. This is for them, not us. They're loyal creatures," she walks over to the window to release the bird so it could fly out to the branch of a nearby tree. "If you love them and they love you, they will always find you."

The bell rung, and as with all young students everywhere, the kids all raced to pack up and leave as quickly as they could. "We'll pick this up after recess. No running!" she called after them.

One of the students turned about and came up to her teacher and handed her a pear. Emma couldn't help smirking at the fruit choice. Where every other teacher in America would expect an apple, Snow White insisted on pears.

"Why thank you!" she said as the student hurried off, just as Regina enters the room. "Ms. Mills, what are you doing here?"

"Where is my son?" Regina demanded.

"Henry?" Mary Margaret was surprised. "I assumed he was home with you."

"You think I'd be here if he was?" she gestured at Emma. "Did you give him your credit card so he can find _her_?"

"I'm sorry, who are you?" the pixie-cut black haired teacher asked, confused.

"I'm Regina's Baby Mama," Emma grinned mischievously.

* * *

"I'm the other mother."

* * *

"I'm your daughter, whom you sent into a magic cupboard as a child so I could grow up all alone and one day find you and break the Evil Queen's curse."

* * *

"I'm the Savior. RESPECT Bee-yotch!" The blonde slapped her chest and shot everybody in the room peace signs.

* * *

"Hi, I'm Emma Swan, Agent of SHIELD, undercover HYDRA agent, Thor's secret lover, and apprentice to the Sorcerer Supreme."

* * *

"Me?" Emma pointed at herself. "I'm Mr. Black's girlfriend." She paused and rolled her eyes up in thought. "Well, one of them anyway. You can call me Ms. Swan. Regina does."

* * *

"Emma Swan, member of the Star Sapphire corp, defender of Love."

* * *

"Emma Swan, Jedi Knight, Grey Order of Time Loopers. Still working on constructing my lightsaber. But I am a Jedi Knight. See? I got my membership card here!"

* * *

"Me? Oh, well, my name is Emma Swan. Technically, I suppose you could consider me Captain Hook's girlfriend, slash lover, slash fiance, slash wife, slash First Mate… although technically I'm like… his third or fourth _mate_ if you want to really get into it. But I digress. Let me start over. Hi! I'm Emma Swan, First Mate of the Jolly Roger under the command of Captain Killian 'Hook' Jones. We're looking for Second Mate Henry. Arr!"

* * *

"I'm Batman!"

"..."

"..."

"Nah, I'm just kidding!" A pause. "But seriously, I do know him."

* * *

"Ms. Mills, what are you doing here?"

"Where is my son?" Regina demanded.

"Henry?" Mary Margaret was surprised. "I assumed he was home with you."

"You think I'd be here if he was?" she gestured at Emma. "Did you give him your credit card so he can find _her_?"

"I'm sorry, who are you?" the pixie-cut black haired teacher asked, confused.

"Emma," the blond smiled and kept her arms crossed.

"The woman who gave him up for adoption," Regina had to get her dig in.

"Henry stole your credit card," Emma supplied, causing her amnesiac mother to dive for her purse. Then in an aside to Regina, the Savior commented, "She didn't know anything about this, so lay off. Hey, he's our kid, he's got the best of both of us. My… natural talent, and your skills at covering your tracks."

Regina shot a hateful glare at her current companion, while Mary Margaret discovered that Henry had indeed stolen her credit card. "Clever boy. I should never have given him that book."

"What in the hell is this book I keep hearing about?" Regina shouted out loud.

"It's a history book," Emma said before the pixie-cut brunette could say a word. The rapid response stunned the teacher into silence.

"I thought you'd said it was about fairy tales last night?" Regina glared suspiciously at her. "So which is it, Ms. Swan? A book of made up stories, or a history book?"

"It is a history book," Emma stated, looking the black-haired woman in the eyes. "It just so happens that the history it contains involves people known as Snow White, Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin, and the like. I think there is even a section in there about a young woman named _Regina_ , who is forced to marry an old king after she witnesses the murder of her boyfriend, a stable boy named Daniel. Who really didn't deserve her, if you ask me."

A hard, loud slap echoed throughout the classroom, and Mary Margaret failed to stifle her scream as her hands flew to her open mouth in surprise. Regina stormed out without a word, too preoccupied to intentionally knock over the birdhouse this time.

"Yeah," Emma tilted her head and rubbed her red cheek, "I kinda deserved that."

"Are you OK?" the kind teacher rushed forward to check on the other woman.

"I'm OK," she smiled kindly at her mother. Who didn't know she was her mother. Gawd, the start of loops were always so hard! No wonder she went a little crazy on the eccentricities!

"Why would you do something like that?" Mary Margaret wanted to know. "Regina is not somebody that you want to make an enemy of, and to outright taunt her like that… You must either be the bravest person I've ever met, or the craziest."

"Can't I be both?" the blond asked with a casual shrug.

* * *

Emma and Henry walk up to 108 Mifflin Street, where Regina is waiting by the door. Henry exchanges a look with Emma and then runs inside.

"Thank you," Regina says, sounding about as grateful as somebody that had punched her in the face and not apologized.

"No problem," the blond said with a shrug.

"He seems to have taken quite a shine to you," she commented.

Emma stopped and considered her next action. Every time she tries to 'make nice' and share a story with Regina here, the woman snaps back and basically throws up every 'Back Off!' signal that she can. And then she 'asks' the one question that the answer to is what made her stay in the first place, and only ever reinforces that desire every time she hears it.

She's tired of hearing it.

"This is gonna keep happening, you know that, right?" Emma went on the attack.

"Excuse me?" Regina rounded on her.

"Look, however you want to look at it," said Emma, "Henry isn't happy. As much as you love him, and I know that you do. In your own way. What you are doing, isn't working. And take it from somebody that ran away plenty of times, he won't stop running until he has a reason to stay more than a reason to leave."

"I am his mother," Regina snapped. "Who do you think you are that you can come here and lecture me about how to raise _my_ son?!"

"I'm his mother too," Emma argued.

"No, you're not. You gave up that right when you tossed him away. Do you know what a closed adoption is? It's what you asked for. You have no legal right to Henry, and you're gonna be held to that. So I suggest you get in your car, and you leave this town. Because if you don't, I will destroy you if it is the last thing I do. Goodbye, Ms. Swan."

Emma sighed and rolled her eyes. Maybe next time?

* * *

"Who do you think you are that you can come here and lecture me about how to raise _my_ son?!"

"I'm an orphan, same as him, and I know what he's going through. Apparently better than you do!"

"And whose fault is that? You made a decision ten years ago, Ms. Swan. And in the last decade, while you've been doing who knows what, I've been…"

"Ugh!" Emma pulled out her gun and shot herself in the head.

* * *

"Who do you think you are that you can come here and lecture me about how to raise _my_ son?!"

"I'm the one he ran _to_!" Emma argued, frustrated beyond all reason. "I'm the one that found him, not once, not twice, but every time that you've known he ran away? _I_ found him!"

"I am not…" Regina started to argue, but for once Emma was the one to cut her off.

"No. You don't get to speak. Not in the face of this. Your son has ran away from you _multiple_ times. And your response has been stricter enforcement of the same routine. That ain't cutting it, sister! You want Henry to stay at home, with you? Great! Guess what?" She crooked her finger at the other woman, drawing her in close. "I _actually_ want the same thing. So here's the deal; we confront Henry about what he wants, and then have a civilized, semi-adult conversation with him, and work out how to make it so that he stops running away, and you do whatever it takes to keep it that way. Or." Emma turned on the 'angel eyes'. "Ignore me and see what happens next."

"..."

They continued to stare one another down, albeit one of them was 'gazing innocently' at the other, the point remained. Finally, after almost a full minute of tense silence, Regina caved.

"What do you suggest that I do about that then?" she asked, tense with her arms crossed.

It took every ounce of Emma's extreme-tested willpower not to shout out loud or pump her fist "YES!" and the like. Keeping her face as neutral as possible was a feat that could be argued not even the gods could accomplish without cheating in some way. Still, it took her a minute to recall what it was exactly that she wanted to say/do next on the off chance that she managed to get through to her co-mother this early on.

"For starters," she began, keeping her voice as calm, 'innocent' and neutral as possible, "Treat Henry like an adult. _Not_ an equal," she hurried to say. "An adult. Which means talking _with_ him and assuming he understands and elaborating when it becomes clear that he does not. Not talking _at_ him and treating him like a child who doesn't understand anything but orders. Believe me, as a kid in the system…" she took a measured breath, "... as an orphan-and yes, that's on me and I own up to that-I've got experience in this. There's a line, but it is pretty clear cut once you know what it is."

"So, basically, treat Henry as though he were one of my staff at the office, is that what you're saying?" the Mayor confirmed, incredulous.

Emma winced.

"A _bit_ nicer than that actually," she confessed. "More like how you and I are talking. And maybe also something along the lines of our first conversation the other night. If it hadn't been for some of the local wildlife jaywalking, I would've left town thinking that my kid was in a good home and things were gonna be OK for him. Even if you were putting on a show for me, my point is that you spoke to me as an adult, and you didn't once lie to me. Maybe obfuscated the truth by saying you were 'strict' rather than 'controlling', but…" At Regina's crossed look, Emma shot her a 'come on' look of her own. "Oh, do not even try and argue the point. I've been here less than twenty-four hours and I can see that as well as anyone. And if _you_ cannot see that, then Ms. Mills, _you_ are the one that needs to be in therapy, not Henry."

Regina opened her mouth to argue, but Emma just refreshed her 'look', which caused the woman's jaw to snap shut as her mind started working. It wasn't often that she was outmaneuvered so effectively, though it had happened on occasion. She always came back stronger for it, however.

But…

The truths that 'Miss Swan' came at her with were hard to deny. Look at who she'd gotten her own experience of motherhood from. And… though she'd occasionally seen Dr. Hopper, (she abhorred thinking of these people by their 'original' names), for the odd session or situation as it had arisen, she'd never let herself be drawn into full time therapy. Maybe it was time she started?

Just… not with the bug.

"Very well," Regina said after a length of time and a deep breath. "What do you suggest that we speak with him about first then?"

"We?" Emma repeated, surprise evident in everything from her expression to her body language and tone.

Smiling, happy to see that she'd finally gotten a leg up on her adversary for once, Regina explained, "Yes, we. How are _we_ going to explain to him that you're leaving and never coming back?"

Understanding filtered into the blond's blue eyes.

"Well, first of all, I was _suggesting_ that you try and better communicate with _your_ son, so that he'll stop running away," Emma emphasized, using hand gestures to further punctuate the point. "And second, is it my imagination, or are you requesting a referee for these talks you're planning?"

"It's your imagination," Regina replied with a dead look and deadpan tone, arms crossed.

"Third, and not yet finally," Emma grinned and crossed her own arms, "Henry and I already had our talk. He feels that he needs me here, in his life, right now. I asked him why, and while what he _said_ wouldn't make much sense to anybody else, I understood what he _meant_ , which is that he's feeling alone, and maybe even depressed. So he's reaching out to everyone that he can so that he doesn't feel that way anymore. Tracking me down was a bit extreme, I'll admit, but then… he's a smart kid. And smart kids often go to extremes. So, I'm staying in town for a little while."

Regina pursed her lips, ready to go on the offensive, so Emma preempted her.

"Last, but certainly not least," Emma got right into the other woman's face. "I want you to ask yourself a question. Because when _I_ ask you the question, the answer that I get is always a lie. Don't know why, not sure how, but fact is, I can tell when people are lying to me. And when you answer this question, when I ask it, I can tell that you are lying. So I don't want you to say a word, Regina. I just want you to _ask yourself_ this question and see if you can tell whether or not the answer is a lie."

Hackles raised, back arched, and if she had one tail it would be stiff and fluffed out, the ex-Evil Queen asked, "What's the question?"

"Do you love him?"

That took all the wind out of the black-haired woman's sails, and she actually recoiled, snapping out a startled, " _What_?"

"Henry," Emma repeated, "Do you love him?"

"Of co…" Regina stopped and did a double-take at her own response, as her mouth snapped shut.

"I'll be at Granny's," Emma said as she turned to walk away. "For, y'know, when you want me to referee or whatever."

* * *

"You're out all night, and now you're going out again?" Granny's voice shouted from the back as Emma walked in the door for the Bed&Breakfast.

"I should've moved to Boston!" Ruby shouted back, sounding as stressed as she was angry.

"I'm sorry that my heart attack interfered with your plans to sleep your way down the Eastern Seaboard!" Granny cruelly remarked. Fortunately, this is about the time that the both of them noticed Emma standing there, watching and listening.

"Hi," she waved shyly. "Excuse me, but I'd like a room, and was told this was the best place in town for that?"

"Oh my," the elderly woman flushed briefly at the comment, before asking, "Really?"

Emma nodded, still keeping up that shy smile of hers.

The proprietor then practically scrambled to get the ledger and did her best to offer and ensure she took full advantage of the new business opportunity presenting itself. "Would you like a forest view or a square view? Normally there's an upgrade fee for the square, but as the rent is due, I'll waive it."

Emma knew exactly what room she wanted. Over the loops, she'd actually 'started out' in each and every room Ruby and Granny had available. After doing that, she kind of flip-flopped between 'square' and 'forest', and then started staying in one particular 'square' room more often than not. It just… felt right, for some reason.

"Room 28 please. Square view. Like I said," she grinned more openly. "You come highly recommended."

Granny nodded and filled in the ledger. "Now, what is the name?"

Emma's neck tickled, and she heard the faintest possible scuff of a cane landing on carpeted flooring. Damn he was sneaky! And without magic too. Sending a silent, near motionless signal to Granny (finger over her lips) Emma spoke a name.

"Graham. Anna Graham."

* * *

"Dahl, with the 'H' and 'L'. Barbara, though most call me Barb. Middle initial 'E', like the letter."

"How original," Gold commented from behind. "Barb E. Dahl, is it? Welcome to Storybrooke."

* * *

"Guss," Emma replied with as straight a face as she could. "Connie, middle name Lynn, last name Guss."

Turns out she wasn't as subtle as she thought she was as Granny shot her a dirty look upon writing the name down. Gold, behind her, just sighed and rolled his eyes without saying a word.

* * *

"Kami, Deuce Kami."

Ruby snorted in sudden amusement, while Gold spoke up with, "What an interesting name. However, I'm more of a Lady Gaga fan myself over Britney Spears."

* * *

"Dee, Ellis Dee."

"She didn't ask what you're on, dearie," said Gold, "Just your name."

* * *

"Kinnet, Faye Kinnet."

She spun on her heels and gave an expectant look at the middle-aged man with a cane, saying, "I'm sure that's never happened to you, though. Right, Mr. Gold?"

Clearing his throat, he adjusted his tie and replied. "Certainly not. Ms. Kinnet."

After he collected Granny's rent, he said his usual bit about welcome to Storybrooke, to which she replied, "It's been a pleasure. Really, it has."

"That's what she said," Ruby couldn't help adding in, and all the women snickered at the man's expense.

* * *

"Guschew, Gladys Guschew."

* * *

"Erph, Helen Erph."

* * *

"Last name Leever, with two 'E's," Emma said while keeping one eye on the man behind her through the mirror at Granny's back. "First name Ima, spelled 'I', 'M', 'A', but pronounced Emma. Middle initial B."

"Emma, what a lovely, name…" She tuned him out for the rest of the spiel. Knew she should've gone the Austin Powers route with 'Ivanna Humpalot'.

* * *

"Kismet, Joanna Kismet."

Before anybody could say anything to that, Ruby came up behind Emma, knocking Gold back a bit, and said, "Don't mind if I do." And then proceeded to make out with the blond time looper in red leather.

When they finally broke apart, Emma gasped at Granny, "I'm staying in her room." And they both departed before the older folks could say a word. After they left, Gold just waved his hand, saying, "I think… yes, I think I'll waive your rent for this month dearie." A high-and-low pitched scream shook the fixings on the walls. "It seems that you have enough on your plate as it is."

* * *

"Swore. Kirsten Swore."

* * *

"Doe, Libby Doe."

* * *

"Furlove, Marian Furlove."

* * *

"Stitz, Norma Stitz."

* * *

"Titsoff," Emma said while making eyes at Ruby, looking forward to a certain repeat of events a few loops back. "Ophelia Titsoff."

What followed, well, pretty much followed along exactly with what happened during that previous loop. Nuff said.

* * *

"Less, Penny Less."

* * *

"Ladhys, Quinn Ladhys."

* * *

"Nuff, Rudy Nuff."

* * *

"Knot, Shirley Knot."

"Surely, you're joking," Gold couldn't stop himself from saying.

Emma turned and faced him, "That's my name, don't wear it out."

* * *

"Company, Theresa Company."

"Oh I used to love that show!" Granny grinned, then sobered with a hard glare. "Now, name?"

* * *

"Kissen, Uma Kissen."

"Me, I hope," Ruby licked her lips.

* * *

"Atious, Viv Atious."

* * *

"Fingerdoo, Wilma Fingerdoo."

"Nope," Ruby replied.

"Then maybe, Boutmiton, Howe Boutmiton."

"For starters," Ruby said as she dragged Emma up to their room.

* * *

"Wattudid, Xena Wattudid."

* * *

"Humpalot, Yvonna Humpalot,"

"Yes please!"

* * *

"Farm, Zelda Farm."

"... Really?" Granny fixed her with a look.

"..." Emma tried to subtly gesture towards Gold, but apparently the canny old woman wasn't having it, this time around. "No, not really. It's Zelda Gold." Spinning around she smiled brightly as she squealed, "Hi Daddy! I'm home!"

* * *

Waking up in the one room at Granny's with a perfect view of the clocktower, and seeing it ticking away, was always nice. Waking up with a cover companion (didn't always manage to stay _on_ the bed) was even better, but that wasn't always a guarantee.

Sometimes it was Graham-she'd made quite the impression on him right from the start it would seem-while other times it was… someone else. Even money on it being Regina, Ruby, or Amnesiac-Belle/Lacey this early in the loop. That was something else, and apparently through no fault of what she herself did or didn't do, half the time Belle was locked up as a total blank slate in the psych ward, and the rest of the time she was partying around town with Ruby and anything else that moved as Lacey Franćais.

At one point, to be more specific after that time that she'd kissed Regina the… sixth-or was it eighth?-time they were in the Mirror Dimension, she'd seriously questioned her sexuality and exactly "which team" she batted for, to abuse the metaphor. Enough that for practically the whole entire loop following that particular encounter, she'd kept herself in therapy and was constantly questioning and trying to reaffirm that she liked men more than girls. The fact that _that_ particular loop ended shortly before the whole Neverland adventure thing, specifically when she failed to help Regina in stopping the 'self-destruct' from finishing off Storybrooke, not to mention Henry being lost to Pan… well, it got her over her 'fears' pretty damn quick and allowed her to focus more on her 'curiosity' to see just _how much_ she liked boys _and_ girls.

So… yeah, she was Bi.

Whether she always was and being caught up in a time loop just allowed her to uncover that facet, or something about the time loops was shoving it in her face, it didn't matter, because in the end it just meant she had more options on the table. So to speak.

Though the way Henry kind of lit up with barely contained joy the handful of times his moms had 'come out' certainly gave some weight to pursuing a "True Love" relationship with her fellow mother, the early parts of the Loops made that _really_ difficult. On a whim, she'd tried flirting with Ruby and uncovered the girl's own homosexuality… about five years early too.

With Lacey, well, the girl really didn't care, so long as she had fun. Emma wasn't even sure the Cursed-Belle counted as 'Bi' in that regards, as it was all about the pleasure, which she could get as easily from a toy, some fingers, man or woman.

Today, she was alone. Although, not for long. Yesterday-as in _actual yesterday_ , not 'last-time-loop-yesterday'-was the very first time she'd finally gotten through to Regina about staying in town and talking with Henry as an adult.

How she'd managed to convince the Mayor to _sleep with her_ before getting her to admit to needing therapy for herself and agreeing to have Emma as a referee during the talk(s) with Henry, she had no idea, but it was a time for celebration. She just had to be careful not to let things backslide, as they so often did around Regina.

There was a knock at the door.

Speaking of whom…

Getting up, Emma paused by the mirror and 'adjusted herself' before going over and opening the door. Hey, just because she had to be careful didn't mean she couldn't still have fun. And after all, Regina having sex with Emma Swan being a power play or not, it revealed the Savior wasn't the only one with barely-hidden-Bi-tendencies.

She opens the door, wearing nothing but her old white tank top (pushed up so that it shows at least part of her abs and hides nothing below her hips), and her panties (white boyshorts that are _really_ comfortable). She smiles when she sees Regina drink in her 'appearance' and stall briefly in the speech she gives everytime without fail when showing up after the clock has started moving. Nevertheless, give it she did.

"Did you know the honeycrisp tree is the most vigorous and hardy of all apple trees? It can survive temperatures as low as forty below and keep growing. It can weather any storm. I have one that I've tended to since I was a little girl. And to this day, I have yet to taste anything more delicious than the fruit it offers."

"Thanks," Emma accepted the offered fruit, and before anything else could be said, while maintaining eye contact with the Mayor the whole time, and bit juicily into the red delicious.

"I'm…" Regina briefly cleared her dry throat, "...sure you'll enjoy," Emma licked her lips around the piece in her mouth, "...them on the drive home." The blond noisily swallowed, and yet somehow it was anything but disgusting or gross.

"We had this conversation already, didn't we?" Emma asked, taking the basket of fruit from the black haired woman, making sure to show off her ass and legs as she did so, exaggerating a bit as she put the basket down on the floor. "I'm happy to referee while you and Henry talk…"

"That will not be necessary," Regina snapped, turning her flushed face toward the nearest mirrored surface to hide her flush. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea. Henry has enough issues, he doesn't need you confusing him."

"I'm not 'confusing' him," Emma said as she pulled out her jeans and started putting them on, in full view of the mirror so Regina could watch every second of it. "I'm ' _supporting'_ him. Maybe not financially, but certainly in all the ways that it counts."

"My dear," Regina rounded on the now-fully-dressed blond, "you gave up that right when you gave him up ten years ago. So I think-"

"It's not a _right_ to support someone," Emma interrupted her. "It's a choice. I can't tell Henry what to do, what time to get up and go to school, or even to eat all his vegetables. I can't make a single, _legal_ decision for him regarding his well-being. _That_ is what I gave up ten years ago, Madame Mayor. My right to be fiscally and legally responsible for him."

She stood up and again put herself face-to-face with the dark-haired, dark-eyed, dark-hearted… and really just generally _dark_ woman. She really hated seeing Regina like this. The sooner it got fixed, the better.

"What you seem to be misunderstanding, Ma'am," Oh, she loved that flare of surprised fury she got on her face from being called that, "is that just because I gave up _legal_ responsibility of Henry doesn't negate my responsibility _to_ him as his biological mother. Which is to love and support him, even if it isn't to raise him."

"Well, my dear, that is where you are dead wrong," the Evil Queen snarled through the Mayor's facade. "You think you are riding in here in your little yellow _bug_ , like some kind of savior, but all you'll end up doing is hurting him. Take my advice, Ms. Swan, only _one_ of us knows what is best for Henry."

"How about this," she proposed rather than giving her stock reply to such a statement. "I won't seek Henry out. But if _he_ seeks _me_ out, I won't turn him away. And remember what I said to you yesterday, Ma'am. You need to speak _with_ Henry like an adult. Not _to_ him as a child."

Scoffing, she turned away from her nose-to-nose confrontation with the younger woman. Right as she got to the door of the small room, however, she turned back at the blond's next words.

"Look," said Emma, "if you don't want me there to referee that talk, then maybe do it with Archie, his therapist? Or maybe his teacher, or even the Sheriff for crying out loud. Just… some neutral party that can reign in your temper and Henry's… heh, smart mouth. Which, by the way, sorry, he gets from both his parents."

"It's time for you to go, Ms. Swan," Regina said over her shoulder.

Emma often told a joke of some variety at this point, usually along the lines of, 'But then you'll _both_ miss me.' Given her goal for this loop, however, she held her tongue, instead responding as Regina expected her to.

"Or what, Ma'am?" God, she _loved_ that look at being called ma'am!

Taking a step forward, trying (and somewhat succeeding) at being menacing, Regina told her, "Don't underestimate me, Ms. Swan. You have no idea what I'm capable of." She then left the room with a slamming of the door.

* * *

"OK, so let's see here," Emma said half to herself and half to the paper she was writing on. "First thing, get Mom to read to Dad, wake him up. Then deal with the whole Kathryn thing. Still need to figure out what exactly gets him with cursed memories though, hm. Oh," she looks up and accepts the hot chocolate from the waitress, "Thanks Ruby. Hey Kid, come join me over here for a second!" she called out over her shoulder, not taking her eyes off of the pad.

"How'd you know I was here?" Henry asked as he scurried over to sit beside her at the bar.

"I have more than one super power," she replied absently, sipping her drink. "Oh, and I kinda made a deal with your mom. I won't seek you out, but I won't turn you away if you come up to me for anything. So, well, this is where I'll be most days, until I find my niche. If you ever need me."

"Cool!" Henry smiled brightly, then looked over and asked, "What's that you're working on?"

"Operation Cobra stuff," she replied automatically.

He gasped. "How'd you know that's what…? Right," he nodded suddenly. "Super powers. Guess I shouldn't be surprised, you're the Savior after all."

"Something like that," she said as she scribbled out a couple more names. "Right! The thing with Cinderella, aka Ashley. Hansel and Gretel, although that might be a while… Sinkhole? Oh, yeah, Kid, if there is ever an earthquake and the mines open up, _stay out of them_! It's dangerous enough down there as it is."

"Uh… OK?" the confused boy promised.

"Need to figure out what to do about the Huntsman's heart… Hm," Emma chewed on the end of her pencil for a second, lost in thought, before moving on. "What else? Hey Ruby, y'know anybody by the name of Lacey?"

"Uh, no, should I?" the skimpy-dressed waitress shrugged.

"No, but thanks!" She hurried to write down 'Get Belle!' and even underlined it.

"Then there's the whole Miner's Day festival thing, but that's in February, I think…"

"Miner's Day is March fifth," Henry helpfully supplied, as he helped himself to the rest of Emma's hot chocolate.

"Oh, thanks Kid," she wrote the date down next to the notation about the festival. "Then August will show up sometime before then, I think. Oh, and Jefferson! Have to approach him about all this. Who am I forgetting?" She glanced out the window towards the street and caught a brief glimpse of the ice cream parlor across the way. "Oh geez! Can't believe I almost forgot about Ingrid! _Again!_ Anything… Hm, there was that thing that David said happened after I wound up in the Enchanted Forest with Mom, so I need to make plans for that. Huh. Wow, when you look at it all written down like that, it seems like a lot to do."

"What is it?" Henry asked, intrigued.

"A To Do List," she said, as though it were obvious.

"For what?" he wanted to know.

"Operation Cobra," she answered, smiling. "And number one on that list is getting you to school on time."

"Aw man!"

* * *

Knowing what was coming and taking steps to get ahead of the numerous crises before they even got started was all well and good, but she'd actually gone through everything-several times at this point-and she was _still_ looping. So, rather than rage against whatever was giving her as many chances to get it right, more than she even needed it would seem, she just accepted it for what it was and make the best of it.

She'd managed to move on past the 'figure in the hood' more than a few times, (person under said hood still changed every time she fought it, once it had even been _Henry!_ ), only to be faced with an even more dire threat later on, and past that something even more daunting, until she was _literally_ facing the End Of The World, caps intended. Stopped that too. Still, whenever a member of her family died, usually her, Regina, Henry, or both her parents (never one or the other, always both), time looped back to the beginning.

One time, she successfully navigated everything so that she got to see her (and Regina's) _great_ grandchildren! That was a hard loop to see end, but… dying in your sleep of old age was a nice way to go. She just wished it had been _her_ doing the dying part of that rather than Henry.

Anyway, she'd long ago made the decision to do everything she could to give everybody their "Happy Endings" as soon as possible at the start of each loop. That way, they all had more time to properly enjoy being happy and having those "Happy Endings". For like, ninety or ninety-five percent of Storybrooke-not to mention every other character she ever meets-it just means breaking the Curse and letting their stories play out. For her parents, it means keeping David from getting his 'curse memories' from Gold by having him and Mary Margaret meet at the loft, rather than 'where they first met', not to mention having Mary Margaret introduce Kathryn to 'Coach Freddie' from the school.

Regina, on the other hand, she's the tough nut to crack. It takes _a lot_ of challenges for the woman once known as the Evil Queen to overcome and start making the _right_ decisions rather than the easy and evil ones. The soonest that she'd been able to manage getting her to turn over a new leaf, thus far, had been after she and Snow returned from the Enchanted Forest, with Cora and Hook on their heels. Making it happen sooner required… allies.

"Hey," Emma called as she knocked on the therapist's door and entered.

"Emma Swan," the cricket-turned-human smiled and held up the newspaper. "I was just, uh, reading about you. Let me guess, you're here for help with a little post-traumatic stress?" He chuckled and joked, "That diagnosis was free by the way."

Smiling in sympathy at the (very old) bad joke, she shook her head and said, "No, Archie, that is not why I'm here."

"Oh, well, if you're here about Henry," the skinny man adjusted his glasses, "I'm sorry, I-I I really shouldn't…"

"I'm not here about Henry," she stated, still shaking her head. "I'm not here about me, or Henry, or me _and_ Henry. I'm here because I think Henry needs help."

"I… see?" Archie said, though it was clear that he did not.

"Not the kind of help that you're thinking of," Emma stated. "Mind if I sit?" she gestured toward the chairs in the middle of the room.

"No, not at all, of course," he then gestured and offered the seating himself.

"I think Henry needs help," she paused and continued before he could try and guess what she'd say next, "talking with his Mom. With Regina."

"You really think so?" Archie sat forward, on the edge of his seat.

"No offense to the woman, but," again that pause and she let her expression say most of it, "It is clear she has issues of her own. Now, she loves him, I know that much for a fact. Another fact is that she tends to talk _to_ him, and treat him like most people I know treat their pets. Not necessarily a bad thing, most pets these days are really living it up and have it made. My point is, she needs to start talking _with_ Henry. I think most of whatever issues they've got going on between them would be solved with just that."

"I agree completely, but…" he trailed off, a brief look of fear covered his expression.

"Yeah," she nodded, understanding.

"Which is what I need your help with," Emma then explained her plan.

* * *

Fixing Regina's issues in the early part of the Loops soon became something of a routine.

Step one, convince Henry that as much as she actually _was_ the "Evil Queen", she was still his Mom and he loved her and, despite not showing it very well, she loved him. That usually got taken care of in that first conversation with him at 'his castle' that first day. Step two, get Archie to call for a 'family therapy session' or whatever he called it, and convince Regina that she was not about to steal Henry away from her, but also get her to admit that she'd made bad decisions in the past. Step three, talk about the Evil Queen and ' _her_ ' actions in the abstract, all for "Henry and Archie's" sakes, of course.

At first, just getting the woman to talk period was like keeping a giant down for a dentist appointment. And every single confrontation had to be handled delicately, because she'd fall back into rote the moment any sort of set-back occurred, and that was even more frustrating than dealing with Pan!

Emma finally, after maybe… ten or fifteen full Loops, managed to figure out what did and did not work with getting Regina on the right path in those early days. Although things repeatedly got… complicated around the time that Graham Hubbard, aka the Huntsman, started getting back his real memories, and Regina's default action/reaction to this was to crush his heart and kill him, thereby opening up the position for Emma to be Sheriff.

She really hated to admit it, especially with the repeated chances to save the original town sheriff, but… Emma actually _liked_ being the Sheriff. She wasn't as crazy about being a 'deputy', especially not with what came later on. And yeah, she and Graham had a… thing or two or… she didn't know what to describe it as, but there was chemistry and that was all there was to say about it.

But the fact remained that in spite of everything he'd done, been made to do, the Huntsman didn't deserve to die like that. More importantly, Regina didn't need to kill him, and so to save her friend more than anything else, she always made sure that that confrontation in the graveyard always turned out differently, pretty much each time. Oh, and for the record, Regina only visited her father's grave on Sunday afternoons, _never_ on Wednesday nights.

Most of the times, she talked Graham down and reminded Regina of everything they talked of in their therapy sessions about making _good_ and _right_ decisions. It was practically fifty-fifty odds on whether she crushed his heart or not. Either way, when Graham survived, she then somehow managed to convince him to step down as the Sheriff so that she could fill in. Then, when Cora showed up, (if he'd been talked down and Regina talked into not killing him), he was always the one that was dead in Archie's place when Cora tried framing Regina to turn her Evil again.

The other times, Emma kicked open the secret door, (it depended on her frustration level as to whether she just 'accidentally' triggered it, or literally kicked the tomb aside), down into Regina's vault and where all the other hearts are kept, though they both knew that the Huntsman's heart was always close at hand in the Mayor's office or on her person. In either case, when she wasn't talking them both down, Emma made sure to sneak in and steal the heart for herself, so to speak, before allowing Graham anywhere near the Evil Queen's vault. When they broke into the vault with Regina there, Emma made it look like she'd found his heart amongst all the others. Other times, when it made more sense to avoid any and all confrontation with the Mayor, she still stole the heart, but rather than let Graham rush off after the wolf, she gave it back to him in private and let things go from there. When they did _that_ , he ran off into the woods and made a promise to protect Emma and her family as much as he could. He did at least leave a note as letter of resignation, and recommendation for Emma to be made Sheriff in his place.

When _that_ happened, no matter how much she tried to prevent it or even tell him about what was going on and how best to deal with things, the Huntsman pretty much segregated himself from the rest of Storybrooke, only showing up when Emma, Snow, Henry, or David needed his help, (and he did help), only to sacrifice himself in an attempt to try and save Henry from ending up in Neverland.

She and Hook never dated during those Loops.

On the other hand, with the Huntsman's help, Mary Margaret was never accused of murder, Kathryn never gets kidnapped by Sydney or Gold or whoever actually did it, and Regina started on her path to redemption and happiness _much_ sooner.

* * *

Routine Savior-ing and Operations Cobra, Mongoose, Save Henry and whatever aside, Emma also came to appreciate the Loops for another outstanding factor; Self-Improvement.

Something she'd always regretted was never trying hard enough in school or making a real effort. After coming to Storybrooke, her biggest fear shifted from losing her job and other bad stuff to never being able to live up to her title as the Savior. It had been a near constant fear, even after the Loops started and she continuously faced the figure in the hood with the sword, the sword that killed her, which really drove home the fear of not being good enough.

And while she didn't necessarily dedicate _all_ of her free time between saving people to just one task or another, she decided to start off with the 'easy stuff' and go from there; aka Studying.

With that much, at least, she didn't have to hide and could study just about anywhere.

At the Loft.

"Hey," Mary Margaret greeted as she came in with the groceries. "What's all this?"

Emma looked up from her seat at the kitchen island bar, and then back down at the stack of books and open notebook she was writing in. "Oh! Well, I don't want you to get the wrong impression or anything, but I'm studying to take the High School Equivalency Exam. Don't get me wrong, I actually did go to and graduate from High School. I just… ran away from the foster home housing me at the time before, y'know, going to an actual college or anything. Picked my diploma up on the way out of town."

"So, then what's with taking the test if you don't need to?" Mary Margaret asked as she finished putting away the foodstuffs.

"It's been awhile since school," she grinned at the pixie-cut brunette, "For me at least."

Mary Margaret smiled back and sidled up next to her roommate at the bar. "So why the sudden interest in remembering the past?"

"I want to be better," the blond shrugged, going back to her studies.

"Aw," Mary Margaret cooed, putting her chin on the younger woman's shoulder. "For Henry. That's so sweet Emma. Now, what do you want for dinner?"

At the Diner.

"Morning Emma," Ruby greeted the Sheriff. "Get you a refill there?"

"Hey Ruby," the bundled-up blond glanced up from the heavy paper-back book she was reading out of. "Nah… uh, on second thought, yeah. But it's just hot chocolate, not coffee."

"What have you got there?" the leggy brunette asked as she came back with a fresh cup. "Looks pretty intense. What is that, some kind of textbook?"

"It's my reading assignment," Emma said with a tired sigh. "I'm doing the whole online college by correspondence thing. Trying to get my degree."

"Oh, what for? And which college?"

"MIT," Emma replied automatically. "Bachelor in Computer Sciences. Have to figure out how the damn computers work so I can hack the damn things so my grades stay in. Damn loops…"

"Oooh-kay…" Ruby quickly left after that.

At work.

"What's that you got there, Deputy Swan?" Sheriff Hubbard asked as he stepped out of his office to get some more coffee.

Snorting, Emma shook her head at him. "I've had the badge for two days already, and we had to deal with that mine collapse thing. You'd think the novelty would wear off by now, wouldn't you?"

"Don't know, you're my first real deputy," the rugged man answered after a sip of hot coffee. "Doesn't answer the question though, now does it?"

"I'm studying for the LSAT," she gave him the short answer.

"And that is…?"

She gave him a blank, almost startled look, but it was nearly drowned out by the boredom in her eyes. "How do you not know what the… Y'know what. Never mind. LSAT. Law School Admission Test. I'm planning on taking it so I can then study to become a lawyer. Or, at least so I can study law."

"I just hired you, and you're already planning on leaving to become a lawyer?" he asked, more than a little shocked.

"Or a judge, or a paralegal, or District Attorney, or any other position within the American Bar Association," she trailed off as she turned most of her attention back to the book. "Besides, can't afford law school, my criminal record would prevent anyone from actually hiring me, and I've told everyone in town that I'm not leaving my son when he needs me, which he does at the moment. Besides, nothing wrong with expanding your skillset, right?"

"Uh… right?"

Or even at home.

"Ms. Swan?!" Regina only refrained from shouting because her son was sitting there next to the blond woman. "What are you doing in my home? I can have Sheriff Glass arrest you for trespassing!"

Oh yeah, there were also a handful of loops where she never became deputy and didn't contest Sydney's appointment as Sheriff. The man always quit before the end of the year and freely committed himself just prior to the Curse's breaking anyway.

"We're doing our homework, Mom!" Henry spoke up before Emma could say a word.

"Yeah," she agreed, shooting her co-mother a teasing grin. "Hey, where's yours? We can all do it together. Like a study group or something."

"Yeah!" Henry enthusiastically agreed.

Ever since Emma came to town, his Mom had been more open and generally nicer and… and really just _happier_ all around. It wasn't exactly what he'd picture the 'Final Battle' being like when he first went to get Emma, but he wasn't complaining about it.

"I usually do my paperwork in my office," Regina said, then did a rapid double-take, "and that doesn't dispute the fact, Ms. Swan, that you are in my home without my permission nor invitation. I would thank you to leave before I-"

"Now Regina," Emma interrupted, pulling out her 'angel eyes', "As I've repeatedly told you, when we're not in public, such as we are now, you can call me Emma. Also, I walked Henry home from school, as I told you I would start doing. Now," she and Henry both looked at her with the 'angel eyes' going full bore, "would you like to set a good example for your son and join us in completing all our homework together, or would you like to send him to his room so you can throw me out, where he'll probably go read a comic book or watch TV or something else wasteful with his time?"

Regina opened her mouth to protest, but just looking at those two innocent angelic faces staring back at her in open anticipation and hope crushed the last shreds of whatever anger had been bubbling beneath the surface. Relenting with a tragic sigh, the raven-haired woman closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Then who'll make dinner, hm?"

"I already ordered a couple pizzas for later," Emma countered. "And before you complain, I used the coupons you have in the kitchen drawer by the fridge. They were about to expire anyway, and I'm paying. Now. Pull up a chair, bring out the paperwork, and settle in."

Rolling her eyes, Regina sighed and did just that. She wasn't sure why she capitulated so quickly to everything this woman suggested, but she couldn't deny that she did enjoy sitting here, working diligently and helping Henry with his homework while his…

She stopped that line of thought and looked at the situation anew. It was almost… _domestic_ , the three of them sitting here, each working on their own little thing, but freely available to help one another out. Then Emma started whining.

"Ugh, I _hate_ math!" she groaned as she ran her clenched fingers through her gold hair.

"Yeah, not my favorite either," Henry agreed. "I much prefer English, or Social Studies even. I'm better with words than numbers."

"I fail to see what is so challenging about simple arithmetic, Ms…" she stopped herself at the blue eyes shooting her way, "... Emma. What precisely are you having so much difficulty with in the first place?"

"I'm doing this correspondence course," she explained. "Basically taking college classes at home rather than having to commute to the college. So long as I send in the work and take the tests on time and everything, I get my degree at the end of the semester, same as any other typical college student."

"Fascinating, and why exactly are you doing this now, I wonder?" the Mayor responded, suspicious.

"I was a bail bondsperson," Emma replied. "I was already in the course before I ever came to town. And for the record, this is _not_ easy!"

"Oh really?" Regina smiled wickedly, intent on getting a leg up on her rival. "Well perhaps I can solve your little math problem. After all, I'm sure that if I can help Henry with _his_ math homework, I'm certain that I can help you with _yours_ , my dear."

Emma didn't respond to the jibe, except to start reading off the problem that was currently giving her grief. "For how many integers, _n_ , with n (less than) 500 can the polynomial 'p sub n, times x, equals x to the sixth power plus n' be written as a product of two non-constant polynomials with integer coefficients?"

Regina stared. Blinked a few times, and then roughly grabbed the book she was working out of, speaking only after. "Let me see that! What… what kind of math is this, Emma?"

"Advanced calculus," Emma replied, calmly retrieving her book.

But studying wasn't all that she was doing. That was just one of the few things that she could work on without having to hide what she was doing from everybody. Well, most everybody.

"Oh, hey Regina!" Emma called out over her shoulder, keeping most of her attention on the task before her. "Come on in."

"Considering this is my office, I don't see why I shouldn't my dear," the much calmer and far less confrontational (after nearly nine solid months of exposure to Emma and weekly therapy sessions) Mayor retorted. "What are you… who are all these people?" She ended in a flat tone that warned everyone in the vicinity of the danger they were all in.

"Well, you know Jefferson already," she indicated the Mad Hatter of Wonderland. "And this is Ingrid, sort of my adopted sister, sort of. It's complicated. She runs the ice cream parlor. Oh, and Lily, my fellow student. We're learning magic."

"..." Regina's mouth was left open long enough that she actually felt it go dry. She then shook herself out of her shock and asked, no _demanded_ , "What the hell is going on here?!"

"OK, think I've got it…" Emma muttered, and then gestured with her dominant hand, and the ornate candle in front of them on the table was lit. "And now, _Nox_ ," she made a different gesture and the flame was extinguished.

"I know that you love those books, Emma," Ingrid said with a patient, yet suffering demeanor, "but please do not confuse made up magic for _real_ magic."

"Excuse me, but…" Regina tried again, right as Lily's eyes shone reptilian green and she 'spat' a bit of fire at the candle, lighting it just as easily as Emma had. "What the hell?!"

"Do you want the long or short version, Your Majesty?" Jefferson asked cheekily.

"I'm practicing my magic," Emma provided said short version without prompting. "Y'know, before Gold uses that potion of his to bring it fully back after the Curse is broken."

"You have magic," Regina said slowly, taking a seat next to her at the conference table.

"Yes," Emma answered. "So does Lily, Lilith. Although she's limited to dragon magic. It is not going to be easy to get that potion out of her mom. I'm just saying."

" _HOW_ do you have magic?!" Regina screamed.

"I was born with it," the blond shrugged. "And, advertising aside, though this may be the realm without magic, all that means is that it's magic deficient, not magic free. Were you able to get a hold of the Dragon before getting here, Lily?"

The dark-haired daughter of Maleficent sadly shook her head. "I tracked him down to a place in Chinatown, but apparently he was attacked right before I got there. I… think he'll be OK, just out of commission for a while. Tasers hurt, but they don't exactly kill dragons, if you know what I mean."

Emma shook her head with an angry growl stuck in her throat. "Damn bitch. When she and that bastard get here, I'm going to enjoy making them suffer."

"Emma!" Ingrid called out. "You warned me that you don't want to go dark, which was a danger with you two being in the same place."

"Oh trust me, I'm not going to kill them, in fact I'll be saving their lives from Pan. But I'll get a _lot_ of satisfaction throwing their lying asses in prison."

"It is really nice being on the other side of the law for once," Lily smiled.

"Ms. Swan, I'm going to need those answers, sooner rather than later, if you'd please!"

And then there was her more esoteric skills that needed working on.

"EMMA!" Mary Margaret shouted from down below. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Walking the tightrope!" she shouted back.

"There she goes again," David commented as he and Mary Margaret finished their early morning breakfast outside Granny's.

"I get wanting to stay in shape," his girlfriend-post-divorce commented, "but this _parkour_ thing that she's putting herself through seems a bit… extreme if you ask me."

"What exactly did you think you were getting away with, dearie?" Gold asked the hunched over black-clad blond.

"Practicing my burglary skills," she replied.

"This is the twelfth time that I've caught you at this con game of yours, Emma," Graham Hubbard said through the bars of the jail cell. "Great example you're setting for your kid here. What have you got to say for yourself?"

"That you are _really_ bad at your job," the dressed-exactly-like-the-Mayor, (complete with black wig), Emma Swan replied. "I've been at this thing for _months_ , and I've pulled off stuff that you don't even have a clue about. You've _caught_ me twelve times. Doesn't mean I've only done twelve cons. Oh, by the way, here's your wallet back. Want anything from Granny's? I'm buying."

* * *

"We need to talk," Emma said to the 'stranger in town'.

"Why?" he asked automatically with a mischievous boyish grin.

"Because," she sat down rather than let her eyes be drawn to the box he was 'drawing attention to' beside him. "I really don't want to waste time on long cons and drawn out vague explanations, August. Oh, by the way, thanks for walking out on me in foster care twenty-seven and a half years ago!"

"I beg your pardon?" he blurted out, caught completely off guard.

"Hi," she gave him a little sarcastic wave, "I'm Emma, daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, sent through a magic wardrobe, made from a magic tree, crafted by _you_ and _your father_ , a nice man that we in this town call 'Marco', but whose real name is Geppetto, who just so happened to make a deal with the Blue Fairy so that when that little baby was sent through it to escape the Dark Curse, you got to hitch a ride along. Pinocchio. By the way, did you know that they named something after you here in this land? It's called the 'Pinocchio Effect', it is what happens when somebody lies, all their blood rushes to the face, specifically the area around the nose and cheeks. Strange that they don't call it the Rudolph Effect, on account of the red nose and everything, but then, _he_ wasn't known for lying."

"Uhhh…" the man was at a loss.

Emma took his cup of coffee and finished it off for him with a grimace.

"Short version; Time Loop. I've lived through all of this before. Longer version; I'm trying to figure out some _other_ way of breaking the damn curse besides letting _my son_ be cursed and having to break both with True Love's Kiss. Mother's love is as true as it gets, in my humble opinion, by the way."

"So… you believe?" he confirmed.

"Not only do I believe, I _know_ ," she reiterated. "Now, are you going to help me out, or do I have to _knock on wood_ ," she rapped her knuckles on his right leg under the table, "and hope I get lucky later on down the road?"

He forked another piece of pie and chewed and spoke only after swallowing.

"Time loop, huh?" She nodded her head. "True Love's Kiss?"

"Two for the price of one," she held up fingers to help illustrate, lowering her pointer finger when she said 'one'.

"So," he took another bite and finished it as quickly as he could, "why mess with what works? And a better question would be why haven't you done it already?"

"Do you want to be a puppet man, or do you want your leg fixed?" she asked redundantly. "Besides, I've kind of… made it so that what happens to put my son in a near-death coma, leading to actual death, well… it doesn't happen. And believe me, I tried just giving him a kiss and saying 'I love you, Henry', which I totally do, don't get me wrong, but… the Curse hasn't broken. And… well, let's just say that my love life is a bit screwy at the moment. So that's out. Hence, needing to figure out some _other_ way to break the Curse."

"That is a conundrum," August agreed, finishing off his pie. "How about we talk it over with drinks?"

She gave him a flat stare. "No."

Then she got up and left.

* * *

"Hey Mal! Maleficent! Look, I know you're down here! We need to talk!" Emma shouted into the dark cave under the town library, twirling her father's sword in hand.

She wasn't sure how, but practically every time she came down here, the black dragon always managed to get behind her so she wound up backing her butt into the dragon's butt. Every damn time.

Looking up as the green-eyed black dragon hissed and prepared to blast the red-jacketed intruder into ash, Emma stopped her with just six words, "I know where your daughter is."

It was amazing really, how quickly the towering spectre of flaming death and pure evil turned into a whimpering puppy begging for attention.

"Well, to be completely honest about it, I don't know where she _is_ right now, but I invited her into town, talked her through getting here and everything. She should be here within the next day or so at the most," Emma confessed. "Her name is Lilith, I call her Lily. I know… _stuff_ … happened between you and my parents, but to be quite honest, a whole _lot of stuff_ has happened since then. We'll all have a nice long chat about that, after we get you to turn back human. Speaking of which." She held out the sword for dragon-Maleficent to examine.

"The Dark One's handiwork," she remarked. "Vanquishes you, leaving only your ashes and one other thing behind. I've modified it so that all it will do is painlessly cut through your scales, and use your own dragonfire to cauterize the wound."

The dragon reared back, hissing once more, though thankfully no flames spewed forth.

"Calm down!" Emma shouted. "Not sure if you remember it or not, but once upon a time, my dad came to your castle with a jeweled egg? He sort of, somehow, hid it inside your dragon form. That egg contains a potion which will restore magic to Storybrooke, this town. Which will enable you to change back and forth at will, among other things. It's also the only way that I can break the damned Curse without resorting to True Love's Kiss, which can only be properly triggered by breaking a Sleeping Curse. See where I'm going with this?"

Groaning, the dragon nodded her head and lowered herself back down so the two were face to face once more.

"Now," Emma held up the sword for inspection, "Just because you can't _use_ magic, doesn't change what you _know_ about it. Or the fact that you can still detect it. If you have any suggestions on other modifications I can make to the enchantment, please, I'm all ears."

The draconic green eyes looked over the enchanted blade, even picking it up in dainty talons to examine it from every possible angle. Finally, she handed it back to the Savior and then grabbed a random piece of wood from the floor, blew a bit of flame to get some charcoal going, and then proceeded to write out a magical formulae on the ground. After she was done, Emma looked it over and started nodding her head.

"Yeah, yeah, I see!" she said as her hands started glowing, modifying the enchantments even as she spoke. "Leave the dragonfire element, but switch it around so that instead of cauterizing the wound, a healing element is applied instead. On anybody else, it would just vaporize them, but since it is _your own_ dragon flame providing the power, it can't hurt you, in fact it would aid in healing that much more. Normal healing spells would bounce off the scales, same as every other kind of magic. OK, I think that does it. What do you think?"

Maleficent inspected the blade that would soon cut her open one final time. She could see no fault in the spellcraft, and nodded her massive head.

"Now comes the awkward part," said Emma. "Finding the damn egg."

* * *

"Bastard really needs to learn how to adapt his plans," Emma commented as she untied Regina. "I mean, really, stopping the elevator and getting me to toss him the egg with you tied up? He really does do this every single time."

"Quit complaining," Regina growled out as her hands were finally freed. "We need to get after him before he can…" she trailed off as she observed Emma holding the glowing pink potion before her eyes. "You took the potion and threw him an empty case?"

"Yep," Emma said proudly, preening. "You _did_ let Belle out of her cage early, right?"

"She was moved to the long-term care ward the day after you gave me that 'warning'," Regina promised. "And since Jefferson is one of your magic tutors, according to your logic, he has no reason to betray me and send her to Gold, so he won't unleash a wraith on me after magic is returned. And this _will_ do that?"

"And restore everyone's memories, essentially breaking the Curse," Emma confirmed. " _Without_ having to break a Sleeping Curse at the same time that could potentially kill our son. Just need to make a minor modification to it for that, as a matter of fact," she said even as she plucked one of her own hairs and dropped it into the glowing potion, transforming it from a lovely shade of pink, to a near blinding whitish-pink with a gold aura.

"What… what did you just do?!" Regina exclaimed, shielding her eyes.

"Mixed in the essence of the Product of True Love to the potion of True Love," she answered. "Trust me, I've seen what it does, and it is worth the minor glare issues."

"You call that minor?!" she yelled as the potion was finally put away beneath the Sheriff's red jacket.

"C'mon," Emma said with a grin, taking the woman's hand in hers, "We've got to beat Gold to the Wishing Well. Then, and this is the important part, _you_ have to drop it in while wishing for the Curse to end. Or even better, for your Curse to be broken once and for all, so that it is no longer your Curse."

"OK," the Mayor replied, running alongside the Sheriff. "But why can't you dump it in?"

"Because then nothing changes," she answered. "I mean, the Curse is broken, yes, but everything after that is the same. I'm hoping that if _you_ make the wish, especially that part about it no longer being your curse, it means that when Pan shows up in a couple years and tries to cast _his_ version of the Dark Curse, you won't have to send me and Henry off with our memories changed. That gets _really_ annoying, I've got to say."

"Is this how you've been breaking the Curse?" Regina asked as they pulled up to the Wishing Well in the little yellow bug, some time later. "I mean, in these time loops that you've told me about. You already said how you would 'normally' have to break it, with Henry and… my trying to curse you. But since you've found another way, is this how you break it now?"

"For the most part, yeah," Emma acknowledged, hurrying them both over to the well. "Especially after seeing how _well_ it works, compared to True Love's Kiss. This will be the first time I have you drop it, though," she confessed. "Sometimes I let Gold drop it, other times I drag one or both of my parents, the rest of the time it is just me and Henry, and he drops it in. Only time it really makes a difference to what follows is when Gold drops it, the curse doesn't fully break, and his son can't be talked into coming back to Storybrooke."

She pulled out the shining potion and handed it over to Regina. "When the heroes drop it, Light Magic is easier to use, but it doesn't change anything in the future. I'm hoping to find out what happens when _you_ drop it and make _your_ wish, Regina."

Taking a deep breath, the Mayor nodded and held the slim bottle of magic potion out over the middle of the well, saying, "Well then, my dear, here goes. Bottoms up." She dropped it.

At least the cloud wasn't _dark_ purple this time, Emma thought.

END (1 of 7)


	2. Regina's Loop 1

Regina

Regina Woke Up on October 23, 1983. Her last memories were of… sitting down to a 'Last Supper'-esque meal with the entire Charming Clan, her son seated between her and her son's other mother and the woman's new husband. They'd just defeated the Black Fairy and fulfilled the prophecy of the Savior, putting a real _Happy Ending_ to the story in Henry's book.

But.

She also had more… 'recent' last memories of finally succeeding in the casting of her Dark Curse and unleashing it upon all the Lands, before racing just ahead of it to her most hated enemy, Snow White's castle, just to rub it in in those last few seconds before the Curse consumed them all. Of watching Snow crying over her dying husband, while ruing the loss of stealing and/or killing Snow's newborn child in front of her eyes.

… Wow. Regina knew she'd had issues, but… well, apparently the next twenty-eight, (or eighteen and then ten), years would do a lot to mellow out her burning rage.

As it was, she was still trying to figure out what exactly was going on here.

They'd won! So, what was she doing back in the past, apparently reliving everything from the moment of Storybrooke's creation until… whenever?

Not about to find the answers to her questions here in her bedroom, she quickly got dressed and ventured out into town… where she encountered the same 'people' having the exact same interactions that she'd witnessed over and over every day for nearly twenty-eight years. And then it got worse.

She ran into little Owen and his father in the Diner…

 _What_ was going on here?!

* * *

She'd been patient for eighteen years. Finally, on the day she knew was Henry's birthday, she asked Gold for his help in procuring a son for herself. True to form, he came through, though at a seemingly steep price. She left Storybrooke and eagerly made her way to Boston to pick up Henry. This time, after having already raised him, there would be no second-guessing, no almost giving him back. She'd take the bad with all of the good that came from having Henry in her life.

Now all they had to do, she told both herself and her little man, was wait for Emma to get here. Or rather, for Henry to go and get her.

And then…

Then, came the hard part. Playing the 'Evil Mayor' until Emma finally Believed again and broke the Curse. She wasn't sure just how much of that she could stand, if she were being honest with herself.

At least she had Henry...

At home, she could be as kind and nice as she wanted to be. She also had a favorite story to tell him, which became a lot easier when he brought home _The Book_ , loaned to him from his teacher, Mary Margaret.

"Once upon a time," she read to him out of the large leather-bound tome, "There lived a woman known throughout the land as the Evil Queen. She had finally succeeded in cursing Snow White into eternal slumber, so that she might never trouble the Evil Queen ever again. Knowing the danger she was in, Snow White's Prince Charming raced through the Enchanted Forest as fast as his steed could carry him. He arrived too late, however, finding Snow White's friends, the Seven Dwarves, gathered around her glass coffin.

'You're too late,' said Doc.

'No,' Charming cried out, 'No! Open it.'

'I'm sorry,' said Grumpy, 'She's gone.'

'At least let me say goodbye,' Charming begged the Dwarves.

The Dwarves removed the coffin lid. Prince Charming kisses Snow White, and a burst of magic erupts and sweeps across the land, bringing light to the dark-covered lands. Snow White awakens with a gasp.

'You… You found me,' she said, looking upon her Charming Prince.

'I will always find you,' he vowed.

'Do you promise?'

'I do,' Prince Charming said to his new wife, before the Bishop and all the witnesses of the Kingdom.

'I now pronounce you husband and wife,' the Bishop declared. The Royal couple kissed and the crowd cheered. Cheers which suddenly died out when the doors to the chapel were slammed open and the Evil Queen stood there in her black regalia…"

"What's... regalia?" Henry asked.

"Um…" Regina shook her head, reorganizing her thoughts due to the interruption. "It is the special clothing that royalty wear on special occasions. Just because she was defeated by Snow White doesn't mean the Evil Queen isn't still a queen. So, to a special event like the wedding of Snow White and Prince Charming, she wore her special royal clothes."

"Ohhh. OK," he nodded and settled back in to listen to the rest of the story.

"Now, where was I? Oh yes; 'Sorry I'm late,' said the Evil Queen, crossing the room and throwing off the guards that tried to stop her with magic.

'It's the Evil Queen!' the guests all screamed. 'Run!'

But Snow White stood her ground, drawing her husband's sword and holding it out to halt the Evil Queen's advance, calling out to her people, 'She's not a queen anymore! She's nothing more than an evil witch!'

'No,' Charming said, taking the sword from his True Love's grip. 'Don't stoop to her level, there's no need. You're wasting your time, you've already lost. And I will not let you ruin this wedding.'

'Oh, I haven't come here to ruin anything,' said the Evil Queen. 'On the contrary, dear, I've come to give you a gift.'

'We want nothing from you,' said Snow White.

'But you shall have it. My gift to you is this happy, happy day. For tomorrow, my real work begins. You've made your vows, now I make mine. Soon, everything you love, everything all of you love, will be taken from you. Forever. And out of your suffering will rise my victory. I shall destroy your happiness, if it is the last thing I do.'

And then the Evil Queen vanished in a swirl of magic.

Calling together all the good people and heroes of the Enchanted Forest, Snow White and Prince Charming held a conference to discuss the Evil Queen's threat. None knew what to do, of course. Most wanted to fight and kill the Evil Queen before she could carry out her evil plan. But then the Blue Fairy arrived, speaking of a child, the child of Snow White and Prince Charming, who would be their Savior, and had brought forth a magic tree that would lead to the child's salvation. The Prophecy said that, 'On the child's twenty-eighth birthday, the child will return. The child will find her family—and then the final battle will begin!'

A short time later, the wardrobe made from the magic tree was finished, but it was too late. The Evil Queen had cast her Dark Curse, and the Savior was born, mere minutes after the wardrobe's completion. Charming carried his daughter, fighting his way through the castle halls, defeating all of the Evil Queen's minions who stood in his way. Before succumbing to his wounds, he managed to place his daughter, with her baby blanket, in the magic wardrobe, sending her to safety, moments before the Curse struck."

She then held out the book so that Henry could see the illustration of the baby Emma in her father's arms, placing her in the wardrobe.

"There's more to the story than what is in this book, Henry," Regina told her son, recalling as best she could of what Emma had told her about her past. "Baby Emma was sent away so she could break the Curse, but that would only work if she was in the same world where all the fairy tale characters were sent when they were cursed by the Evil Queen… This world."

"This… world?" he looked up at her, frowning.

"Um-hm," she nodded. "Baby Emma was found on the side of the road, near the edge of the forest. She was put into foster care, and had to grow up almost entirely on her own. This made her very strong, very independent, but also very lonely. When she turned eighteen, the government said she couldn't be taken care of in foster care anymore, so she had to make her own way. But Emma had trouble finding a job, so just to survive she had to steal what she needed… food, clothes, a car. In fact, it is when she was in the middle of taking a car, a yellow bug as a matter of fact, that she met another thief, who called himself Neal. Emma and Neal liked each other and spent a lot of time together, stealing what they needed and helping each other out. But then, one day, for no reason that Emma could know about, Neal left. What made it worse, is that he left her so that she would be caught holding something very valuable… something stolen. She went to prison."

"But… she's the Savior!"

"And Snow White was cursed, and Pinocchio nearly turned into a donkey, and Belle from Beauty and the Beast was locked inside a tower and made to clean an entire castle all by herself," she reminded him. "Sometimes, Henry, bad things happen to good people. But those bad things are not the end. Remember, so long as there is hope, there is a chance for a happy ending."

He nodded dutifully.

"As it turns out," she went on with the story, "Neal left Emma one _other_ gift besides the stolen valuables. She was pregnant. But, being in prison, Emma knew she could not take care of a child, she felt she could barely take care of herself as it was. So," Regina took a deep breath, here it was, the moment of truth, she turned Henry so they were looking at each other, eye-to-eye, "when her son was born, she made sure that he was adopted into a good family as soon as possible. She wanted to give her son his best chance. And… she did, Henry. She gave you up so that you could one day bring her here, and reunite the Savior with her family."

Little Henry's eyes went wide, and he might have leaned back from her a little bit, but he didn't immediately start laughing, nor run off screaming telling her to stay away from him. Instead, he gathered up the book, stood up, looked her in the eye, and said, "I… need to think…" then he walked up to his room and closed the door.

Regina remained behind and cried.

* * *

Finally, the day had arrived. She knew, because she was all too conscious of the day of the Savior's birth, due to the happenstance of it being the same day as Storybrooke's "Founding", not to mention one of the most terrifying days of her life pre-Broken Curse, when Henry had disappeared for the better part of two days.

Only…

Henry was right there with her, happily sitting in front of the TV, playing a video game on the console.

She double-checked the calendar and the date and then looked in the mirror and asked herself the hard question. Did she want Emma to really come and break the Curse? These past ten years had been amazing for her, getting to raise Henry all over again, making things… _better_ throughout the town, rather than influencing or increasing the curse's role to make everyone miserable. She'd even befriended Mary Margaret, rather than torment the witless school teacher as she had the first time around. Not to mention worked to alleviate issues that hadn't been addressed until after the damn clock tower had started ticking originally, such as Hansel and Gretel and their father, or Leroy's drinking problems, and while it was nice to have him around again, Regina truly didn't feel like starting anything up with Sheriff Graham any longer, so she'd settled for just giving the man back his Heart and letting him make his own choices about life and love.

The raven-haired Mayor scowled at her reflection.

Villains took the easy way out. Heroes made the _right decision_ , no matter how difficult it may be or could turn out to be.

Regina refused to be a villain any longer.

"Henry?" she called. "I have some business to take care of down in Boston tomorrow. How would you like to play hookie with me? I can promise you it won't be all boring business meetings. In fact, I can guarantee you that there is a real treat in it for you."

"Really? Awesome!" the ten-year-old exclaimed.

* * *

Convincing Emma Swan to come to Storybrooke, even after introducing her to their shared son, took more work than Regina had prepared for. Ultimately, she had to trick the jaded orphan just to get her to visit for a single day. Apparently, without being an 'Evil Stepmother' that rattled the Savior's latent motherly instincts, the young woman had no inclination whatsoever to stay in town, let alone be part of Henry's life.

It was most frustrating.

Honestly, Regina wasn't sure how she could move things forward without sounding like a crazy person, or some kind of stalker if she tried to convince her with things she'd learned about Emma's past, from the woman herself incidentally. Quite frankly, she was amazed that things had actually progressed to the point of Emma still becoming the Deputy and working on Operation Cobra with Henry. Albeit, Henry seemed to think that Regina herself was either Snow White's 'good' mother, or perhaps Mother Goose, while the 'Evil Queen' remained in hiding somewhere. She wasn't quite sure how to handle that.

But just because she wasn't being as 'evil' and angry-all-of-the-time as she'd been originally, did not mean that Regina had changed completely. She still had the same intolerance for idiots that she'd always had. And an Emma Swan who didn't believe, refused to believe, and was as ignorant about magic and the world behind Storybrooke that she'd been that first year, coupled with 'Mary Margaret' and 'David Nolan' skirting around each other was just about as idiotic as it was possible to get!

Safe to say, there were moments of heated passion between Henry's two mothers. But then, there always had been, so as much as Regina wanted her 'friend' back, she knew she'd just have to suffer through getting her back all over again. Still, it was frustrating, dealing with the naive and jaded Deputy Swan. If she had a choice, she'd much rather be dealing with the happy and hopeful Savior Swan.

And then it all went to crap when Pan's minions showed up out of nowhere, before the Curse had even been fully broken, and kidnapped Henry! Before she could even rally the troops to try and go find him, the world… ended.

Or rather, everything stopped and she found herself, suddenly and without warning, back in the Enchanted Forest, on her family's estate. She was a eighteen-year-old girl, sneaking towards the barn, dressed in her riding outfit with a bag full of her most precious belongings.

She gasped and stopped herself from actually going in.

This was the night the Evil Queen had truly been born. This was the night she'd tried to run away with her First Love, Daniel. This was… the night Daniel died.

She… she couldn't do this. Not again!

Rather than run in and try and save him or work things out so that he might still be alive in some other way, Regina just turned and ran. It wasn't until after she'd gotten lost inside the woods that she even remembered that she had magic. And since magic was all about what knowledge and experience someone had, rather than how often they exercised or practiced, she had no difficulty at all in 'poofing' herself all the way to the one place she'd ever felt safe and could ensure her privacy so as to think here in the Enchanted Forest.

Her castle.

Which, she only realized in hindsight after finding herself at swordpoint by the Royal Guardsmen, wasn't _her_ castle at this point in time, but King Leopold's and Princess Snow White's castle.

Whatever was going on, she officially hated it.

* * *

She'd Awoken mere hours after the funeral for the King, Snow's father. Not quite the 'Evil Queen' as of yet, but apparently her UnAwake-self had already put into motion plans to have Snow accused of and hunted down for the death of her father.

Rather than try and put a stop to it, or defuse her becoming the Evil Queen and all that followed, Regina decided to torment her step-daughter, and future mother of her lesbian love interest, in a different way than she normally did. Using the Mirror, (it was hard not to think of him as 'Sydney' after her time in Storybrooke), she confirmed the location of the Huntsman and went to go hire him. The instructions she gave him were very different, however.

"I'm sorry, you want me to _what_?" he blurted out after nearly doing a spit-take with his tankard of mead.

"You heard me correctly," Queen Regina (in mourning) said. "After all, it's not like I told you to cut out her still beating heart and bring it to me on a gold-pressed platter. I want you to hunt down the fugitive princess, Snow White, and strip her of all her vestments. Jewelry and keepsakes are a must, but anything else she has on, from clothing to shoes, you will return it all to me. She wants to go out on her own, she must face the consequences."

"And… you don't want me to… capture her, or kill her?" he spoke hesitantly.

"What good would killing her do me?" Regina shrugged off the question. "Humiliation is, hmm, so much more satisfying, don't you think, my dear? Now go. Anything else that you do to her, or for her, well. Be prepared to suffer the consequences of your own actions is all I will say. If you do happen to offer her alternative coverings though, just make sure that she _earns_ them. She has no money to pay for anything with. Do you understand me, Huntsman?"

"I understand, Your Majesty," he nodded and quickly walked out with his wolf companion.

Less than a week later, rumors began circulating about a rash of clothing thefts in the outlying villages. Regina dispatched her Black Knights, and pretty much told them the same thing she'd commanded of the Huntsman. After which, the rumors shifted to stories of the people witnessing their deposed Princess streaking through the woods. Regina couldn't help giggling at each new rumor that popped up.

Why hadn't she done this the first time? Humiliating the girl was _so_ much more _satisfying_ than trying to kill her.

* * *

Regina 'Awoke' at a point where/when she seemed to more than fifty percent of the time that she 'Traveled' to the Enchanted Forest; IE, the day she first met Snow White, and when her first love, Daniel, was killed. The remaining fifty percent tended to be any time _after_ she'd had King Leopold killed by the Genie and gotten her Magic Mirror and sent Snow White on the run with the dwarves, aka after she became the Evil Queen.

This particular Loop, she found herself in the middle of riding Rocinante around the jump course with her father watching on, and her mother approaching from behind. It was a skill she'd forced herself to develop, being able to instantly know where her _Mother_ was at all times. Bad things happened when she lost track of the evil old witch.

Daniel, the 'stable boy', came at a further distance behind her.

Having run through courses like this for… longer than she cared to think about, Regina's momentary confusion upon Waking Up was just that, momentary and did nothing to throw Rocinante of his game. She finished the course in record time.

"Oh, that's beautiful sweet heart," Prince Henry told her as she stepped down from the horse. His presence was the only reason she could ever tolerate this time in her life.

"Thank you Daddy," she kissed him on the cheek and hugged him close. Fully aware that her mother was approaching and about to speak.

"Beautiful? Hmph!" Cora scoffed. "I'd hardly call that beautiful."

"You didn't like it, Mother?" Regina said. If she was ever anything but entirely respectful in the witch's presence… bad things happened.

"You ride like a man," came the expected statement. "A lady should be graceful. You should use a saddle."

Doing her best to not roll her eyes, Regina responded differently than she had originally, she knew better than to encourage additional criticism, and had long since learned the ways to skirt the border between being 'feisty' and 'rebellious', at least to her mother's eyes.

"Of course, Mother," she replied, petting Rocinante's face to help keep herself calm. "You, stable boy, bring that saddle, at once." She'd even used her 'Evil Queen' voice, hoping to avoid any 'talk' of her becoming an 'old maid' by just going ahead and riding with a saddle, or even shoving her 'ladylike riding' down the old witch's throat.

First thing she had to do, she silently resolved while placing the saddle and girdle on her horse, _without_ Daniel's help, was finding her Mother's Heart and putting it back where it belonged. Well, either that, or hanging onto it so the witch would no longer be a problem.

And then she went around the course again, not just once, or twice, but enough times that it was clear to all present she was indeed shoving her flawless 'lady' riding down Cora's throat. She would have continued to do so, but Rocinante was getting tired, and Regina wasn't about to make her horse suffer for such petty revenge.

"Was that satisfactory, Mother?" Regina commented as she began leading her horse back to the stables. "I should rub Rocinante down and get her fed. She is, after all, my responsibility, and I take my responsibilities most seriously."

"Did you have fun, Regina? With that needless display of yours?" Cora stopped her in her tracks. Thankfully not using magic, just yet.

"I need to attend to my responsibilities, Mother, now if you will excuse me…" Regina tried to walk away, but Cora unfolded her hands, and she stopped cold. If she showed her magic this early… bad things would happen.

"Let Daniel there take care of the horse, Regina," Cora commanded. "I would like an answer to my question."

"Cora…" Prince Henry tried to intercede, but quieted upon his wife holding up her hand in warning.

"Please give her an apple and full bag of her favorite oats," Regina said to him, handing over the reins. "And be sure to give her a good rub down. I will be by later to check on her."

He merely nodded and took the reins in silence, giving worried looks between the young girl and her overbearing mother. Speaking of whom, Regina took a deep breath and turned to face her monster… er, mother.

"Say what you need to, Mother," she said as diplomatically as possible, given the situation. "We all see that you have something that you need to say to me. I will listen."

"Careful, my dear," Cora snapped. "Don't take that tone with me."

"Tone, Mother? And what, pray tell, tone would that be? I offer you nothing but my respect and obedience. Is there something that you would like to discuss with me, Mother? Or, perhaps, I might be permitted to attend to my responsibilities now?"

Cora glared hatefully at her daughter, though she was probably not conscious of the fact that she was doing so. So, Regina moved on and 'answered the question' that had been put forth to her.

"No, Mother, I did not have fun. The… audience was less appreciative than I'd hoped for. Besides, I'm too old for 'fun' now, aren't I? I need to buckle down and _attend to my responsibilities_."

"Responsibilities, which include finding a worthwhile husband," Cora said dispassionately.

"Why would I want a husband?" Regina commented with a note of derision. "I'd much prefer a willing wife."

" _What_ did you just say?!"

 _Oh, if only Emma could see the look on her face_ , Regina privately mused. She needed to find her Mother's Heart as soon as possible.

* * *

Regina had been looking forward to this night for a long time now. Practically since before this Loop had started in fact. She had everything set up just so, (it paid to be the Queen after all), and now all she had to do was get her party guests to attend, so to speak.

She walked up to the Forbidden Fortress and walked right in without bothering to knock, though she definitely announced herself.

"Oh Mal!" she called out into the echoing entry chamber. "I hope you're ready for tonight! I have it all planned out and…" she trailed off as she found her friend. Napping. In the middle of the floor. As a dragon.

"Maleficent!" the Evil Queen screamed. "What are you doing?! You were supposed to be ready for me an hour ago! I'm sorry I was late but… Maleficent? Mal?"

The dragon had merely opened one eye at the start of her rant, and then closed it and brought a large leathery wing over her head.

"Very funny," she said. "Now will you wake up already and _talk_ to me? What has gotten into you all of a sudden? I swear, there is a perfectly legitimate reason for why I'm late…"

She was cut off as the dragon transformed back into the horned witch, crystal staff in hand. From the look on her face, something or someone had upset her friend. Who breathed fire. Hoped it wasn't her.

"What is the game, Regina?" Maleficent demanded. "What ploy, or plan do you have in motion? What, _precisely_ , are you getting out of this? Keeping me out of the way, maybe? What? What is it?"

Ah, Regina realized. The eternal whisper of paranoia that comes from the _Dark_. The Dark One might have shown up and said a thing or two, but he only played upon the fears and doubts that were already within one's heart. Fortunately, Regina had been through this enough times with Maleficent, both _here_ and in Storybrooke, that it was an easy fix.

"I know this is going to sound strange, coming from me certainly, but in general it will sound strange," Regina took a deep breath and looked her friend in the eye, "Have you ever heard of a 'Girls Night Out' before?"

The next morning, Regina awoke (lowercase) in her open floor bedroom of her castle. And there was a pounding, doubled by the pounding in her head. And way too damn much _light_!

"Uh, Your Majesty?" a timid voice called out over the knocking, which had been the pounding _outside_ her head. "Your Majesty?"

Rising, holding her hand over her eyes to protect from the glare, Regina struggled to her feet, almost tripping over the train of her own dress as she made her way to the door. Slamming it open with her magic (and incidentally ripping it out of its frame) she glared at the manservant standing there and growled, "You do realize that I would be well within my rights as Queen to have you executed on the spot. So this had damn well better be worth the risk. What?"

Gulping, the young man nervously nodded his head and stammered out his reply. "Y-y-yes, y-Your m-mm-Majesty. I, uh, well, it would seem… there is a dragon… sleeping on top of the castle. And the Sea Witch is lounging in your thrown room with… er, friends? All of the castle's animals, the dogs especially, are clustered around your other guest down in the stables. And, um, the green-skinned woman you claimed as your sister is flying around on a broom. While drunk. And, um… not wearing any clothes… Oh, yes, and then there is the damage to all the-" He stopped talking when she held up her hand for silence.

"Leave the dragon alone. Bring seafood breakfast options to Ursula, but don't let her tell anyone what to do. Feed the dogs and whatnot and let Cruella come to the kitchens on her own time. As for my sister and everything else, I will take care of her after I have bathed and had my coffee. Which will be here before the bath is drawn, am I understood?" she ordered.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" he acknowledged and scurried off.

She turned back to her bed, which looked absolutely destroyed, not to mention was still occupied. By the Huntsman, Robin Hood, Maid Marian, and a skinny blond that looked a lot like Emma, but wasn't. Pretty sure she'd been one of Regina's personal maids.

"MWAHAHAHAHA! I'LL GET YOU MY PRETTY! AHAHA!" a British voice screeched as a green blur streaked by her open window.

"Gonna have to do this more often," Regina smiled as she stripped off the remains of her party dress to go and take her bath.

* * *

After dozens of 'trips through time', Regina seemed to have caught onto the pattern, such as it was. She still had little to no clue as to how this was happening or who was doing it, but at least she understood the 'what' a bit better now.

At first, she found herself reliving her life in Storybrooke, from just after the First Curse had taken effect, until a little after the time it normally would have been Broken originally. Then she found herself back in the Enchanted Forest, reliving her life from the moment of the 'Evil Queen's creation' and moving forward from there. That she seemed to have changed things immensely in both instances didn't seem to have destroyed the world or ripped open a hole in the space/time continuum, though it had certainly made her life nearly unrecognizable in many aspects. If she hadn't found herself back in Storybrooke yet again after that time spent as Snow White's nanny rather than stepmother in the Enchanted Forest, she'd worry about changing the future so much that she'd never get to see Henry ever again.

As it was, whatever or whoever was doing this didn't seem to rely on, let alone pay any attention to the Laws of Magic. So, whatever she did to change her life in the Enchanted Forest, it would not affect anything about the Curse or the people there when next she Awoke in Storybrooke.

It also, she was slowly coming to realize, presented her with a most unique opportunity. She could play things out however she liked, do whatever she wanted with her life, with her choices, with her _power_ , and there would be no consequences. Ruin both Rumpelstiltskin and her Mother's plans for her life? Next time-travel, she'd still wake up in Storybrooke, getting to raise Henry all over again. Be the _Perfect_ Mayor and Mother, practically a saint in everyone's eyes? Whether the Curse was broken or not, the Heroes just lauded her for changing and she didn't have to worry about Henry hating her or the rest of the town wanting to lock her up.

And the same applied for the other side of the coin. She could be a thousand times as evil as she'd ever been, and because she'd lived through it all before, she could even outwit Snow and Charming and Rumpelstiltskin and all her enemies. She'd even tried it once, killing Snow White with her own two hands and making sure it stuck. Other than actually being horrified with herself, and finding the experience immensely _UN_ satisfying, it didn't change a thing. Henry was still there in Storybrooke, and Emma still showed up, and Mary Margaret was even still there teaching.

The only thing she truly regretted was that it seemed she was the only one time-traveling like this. If only Henry, or Emma, or… _ugh!_... Snow were going through all this alongside her, then things might be even more interesting. She might also have some way of finding out exactly what was going on for that matter.

In the meantime, she just went on time-traveling, making different decisions and choosing different actions, trying to see just how… _interesting_ she could make her two lives; the time from Before the Curse, and then her time in Storybrooke.

END (1 of 2?)


	3. Emma's Loop 2

Second Season

Emma Swan's eyes snapped open as she came awake in a pile of debris.

Two women were standing over her and her fellow debris-covered-companion. One of them dressed like a samurai and holding a sword to her chest, the other every bit the spoiled princess waif you'd imagine 'Sleeping Beauty' to be. Which, unfortunately, could only mean one thing.

"Damnit, he touched the medallion again, didn't he?" she grumbled, struggling to sit up and not impale herself on Mulan's sword (again).

"You did this?" Aurora accused her. "You killed my Phillip?"

"No!" she denied it, then winced as several thoughts ran through her head. "Not… exactly. Look, it's complicated. And truly, anything that happened while we were unconscious is _so_ not our fault!"

"Who are you?" Mulan demanded, readying her blade.

"My name is Emma Swan," she brushed some of the dirt off her mother, "This is Snow White. _Queen_ Snow White, if that puts it in any kind of perspective for you. We were _trying_ to banish the wraith back to its dimension, but it pulled us in and the portal redirected. It's the truth, I swear!" she spoke hastily when Mulan moved the sharp edge closer.

"Ooohhh, my head," Snow groaned as she came to, then her memories came at her in a rush, and she called out, "EMMA!"

"It's OK, M-Snow. We're fine," Emma comforted her. "Well, being held at sword-point, but still fine. What happened with the wraith?"

"Like you don't know!" Aurora snarled at her.

"We've been unconscious, in the rubble, so… no, I don't know," Emma logically pointed out. "Did you at least hang onto the medallion?"

"Why?" Mulan asked, suspicious. "So you can summon the creature back to do your bidding?"

"Sort of," Emma shrugged. "More like so I can compel it to give her prince his soul back. Then, also so I can actually dispel the damn thing. For _some_ reason," she shot a glare at her companion, "I was outvoted when it came to dealing with the wraith."

"It was too dangerous to try and get the medallion away from it," Snow argued.

"And the situation is _so_ much better now," she argued back.

"Enough!" Mulan shouted.

"You can bring Phillip back to me?" Aurora begged.

"Do you have the medallion?" Emma reiterated.

They did.

Emma would hate Rumplestiltskin after all this time, if he was even worth the effort. Which he wasn't. Quite honestly, once you knew how he ran, so to speak, he was easy to predict. Stand between him and something he wants, he'll roast you alive and then forget about you. Offer him something he wants, and he'll capitulate to any deal that he can finagle into an advantage for him at some point, even if it appears he's on the cheap side at first. Take away his power, and he reverts into being a simpering coward that you can't help but feel sympathy for. Wrong him, and he'll lash out like a viper, not caring where or who his venom lands on.

Unfortunately, even with Regina releasing Belle early, or even with Belle being _Lacey_ , sometime around when the Curse gets broken, Gold perceives _some kind of slight_ against him from Regina, or Graham, or even one of the dwarves for crying out loud, and releases the wraith. She'd almost call it predestined, but it was just Rumplestiltskin being petty and spiteful.

As for using the Hat, well, that was Regina's suggestion _every single time_ , even when she 'confessed' and 'warned' everyone about the Time Loops, she still insisted on using the Hat, though the wording shifted from sending it to the formless void they'd thought the Enchanted Forest had become to sending it back to where it came from. Emma, doing her research before and after the wraith event during the loops, learned how to _properly_ banish the creature. Catch being that she needed the medallion it wore around its neck in order to do so.

Putting her foot down and insisting they do it her way only got her so far, and somehow (she wasn't entirely sure on the 'how') her parents and Regina always managed to talk her around into 'trying the hat first' or whatever. Next time, she'd get the bloody medallion herself, teamwork be damned.

After restoring Phillip and vanquishing the wraith for good, not to mention burying the medallion in a box filled with warnings about the danger within, (including detailed instructions on what happened and how to banish the wraith in case it got summoned again, Emma insisted), they started on their journey to Safe Haven, thankfully not tied up this time.

Didn't change things enough, however, from keeping them thrown into the pit for Emma's 'first meeting' with Cora, aka Regina's mother. At least she finally had a way to keep the witch off her back, not to mention from killing and turning everybody in Safe Haven into zombies. Besides, most of the fun from visiting the Enchanted Forest at this time was messing with Cora and Hook.

"Why are you throwing us into a _pit_?" she wanted to know. "We just _helped_ you! Saved your man and everything! Why do this?"

"Orders," Mulan replied. "From our leader." The door was shut and locked tight.

"Who do you think their leader is?" Snow asked as quietly as she could.

"You'll find out soon enough," Emma sighed and turned to face the darkness of the prison. How ironic that Cora just so happened to be sitting in the darkest corner of said cell.

"Need you to pass out now, Mom," Emma communicated near-silently, putting her hand to the woman's shoulder. While the Vulcan Neck Pinch was actually a real thing, it required phenomenal grip-strength, which Emma, sadly, did not have. So she just used a mild stunning/knockout spell in the center of her palm, and Snow promptly passed out.

"Mary Margaret? Mary Margaret! What happened?!" Emma called out, 'panicking'. "Hey. Come on. Wake up. Hey. Can you hear me?"

"Do you need help?" a concerned voice spoke from the darkness.

"Who are you?" Emma questioned, keeping most of her attention on the unconscious Snow. She may be able to tell when anyone is lying to her, but she wasn't exactly the greatest liar in the world either. Nevertheless, after so many iterations of this scenario, she'd learned how best to lie to Cora and Hook. Or, well, Cora at least.

"A friend," came the response. Obviously a lie, but one that Emma covered up her detecting by focusing most of her energy on her unconscious companion. It was why she knocked Snow out in the first place. With nothing to 'distract' her, Cora always managed to pick up that Emma wasn't buying her act, and things got… dicey. _Very_ quickly.

"You sure she's gonna be OK?" Emma asked the old witch after a few minutes of 'caring' for Snow, making sure to be very panicky the whole time.

"Don't worry," Cora replied, wiping a wet rag across Snow's pale face, " She'll be fine."

"What is this place?" Emma asked, 'beginning' to calm down. "Where are we?"

"It's a little island our captors like to think of as their haven," Cora replied.

Despite knowing full well what was out there and the state of the Enchanted Forest, Emma asked what was expected of her, "Haven? From what?"

"The world's dangerous," Cora explained with a motherly tone, (damn she was a good actress!) "What's left of it anyway."

Knowing what was to come, Emma didn't bother raging against the unfairness of their imprisonment, especially not after realizing that it was solely because Cora wanted to meet the new strangers. So, instead she turned the topic of discussion in a direction she didn't know so much about.

"Dangerous how, though?" she asked. "I mean, I know about the ogres, and yeah, that's bad, but… an island in the middle of a river isn't going to stop them. You'd have better luck trying to fortify defenses at one of the abandoned castles that we passed on our way here. What's so dangerous that their haven is an _island_ instead of one of those places?"

"These are forest people," Cora said with a suffering sigh. "Simple people. They care more for the comfort of familiarity, living in the dirt and squalor than common sense, I'd imagine. I'm afraid you'd have to ask them. After questioning their reasons for unjustly imprisoning you, as they did me."

Wow, Emma mused. Did not take much to get her to crack that facade of hers, did it? Well, it seems she wants things to move along, so to speak, so may as well. Still, may as well make her work for it.

"Why would they do something like that? I mean, besides fear obviously. You're just a kindly, humble, old woman," she _really_ enjoyed getting that dig in there, "what could these people have to fear from a matron such as yourself?"

Her face pinched, which she used to her advantage with her next confession, Emma had to admit, Cora answered, "I'm here because of something my daughter did. The curse that ravaged this land? She cast it."

Emma's eyes went as wide as she could make them, while the expression on her face was carefully sculpted to be as 'innocent-awe-WOW!' as she could make it. "Regina? _You're_ Regina's mother? I…"

"Yes," Cora confirmed. "But you've nothing to fear from me. The apple fell very far from the tree. You're…" she started to ask something else, but Emma interrupted her, continuing with the look of absolute awe.

"I… I have so many questions for you!" the blond gushed. "See, Regina and I, we've sort of been in therapy together for a while, and let me tell you, she has some _serious_ Mommy-issues to work out-not that I don't have a boatload share of my own, to be fair-but anyway, there's this one thing, where Regina remembers playing around in your room, dressed up as a queen or knight or something, and she touched one of your boxes, and then there was a flash, and she woke up the next day, only it had actually been _two_ days, and some of her stuff had been messed around with, so we both wondered what exactly happened then?"

"Uh…" Cora blinked widely, much like a cornered animal.

The stun spell on Snow wore off, right on queue.

"Emma?" she groaned as she sat up and looked around. "What… No!"

Oh well, maybe she could fit in some more 'pester Cora about bad parenting' later on this loop.

* * *

"Omigosh! Lancelot!" Snow rushed forward and hugged the tall, armored, imposing bald black man. Not exactly the standard appearance one thought of when one typically pictured Lancelot Du Lac, Knight of the Round Table.

"Snow?" the man cried out, embracing the shorter woman. "If I had known that you were the prisoners Mulan had brought back, I never would've locked you away. Please, forgive me."

"Of course!" Snow said, smiling happily.

"Really?" Emma said out loud, though her disbelief came more from how many times she'd seen this play out than her initial reasoning.

"He's an old friend. We can trust him," she explained to her daughter before turning back to the knight. "This is Emma."

"Lancelot," the blond nodded, then turned to her mother and asked, "What, Galahad and Gawain were unavailable? Puh-lease! Everybody knows that if you want a Knight of the Round Table at your back, it's gonna be one of those two, even if Gawain ain't perfect. And, _seriously_? Your _best friend's WIFE_?!"

"EMMA!" Snow screamed, scandalized.

* * *

"He's an old friend. We can trust him," she explained to her daughter before turning back to the knight. "This is Emma."

"Her daughter," Emma prodded, elaborating at the confused look. "I know right? She looks amazing for having me at what? Twelve, thirteen?"

"EMMA!" Snow screamed, scandalized.

* * *

"He's an old friend. We can trust him," she explained to her daughter before turning back to the knight. "This is Emma."

"He's a tall, bald, black man in plate armor," Emma observed. "Damn straight we can trust him. Hey Lance, think ole Gwen is up for some threesome action?"

"EMMA!" Snow screamed, scandalized.

* * *

"He's an old friend. We can trust him," she explained to her daughter before turning back to the knight. "This is Emma."

Emma'd gotten bored of scandalizing her mother, so she tried a different tactic this time. Tossing a prepared potion underhanded at 'Lancelot's' feet, she said, "Wassup Lance, my man… Oh! I mean, Hi Cora!" She gave a little wave.

"Treachery!" Mulan shouted and ran screaming with her sword at the sorceress.

* * *

"He's an old friend. We can trust him," she explained to her daughter before turning back to the knight. "This is Emma."

Emma dove forward with the Kingdom Keyblade in hand and repeatedly struck the Heartless before her with no abandon.

"EMMA!" Snow shouted, confused and alarmed, especially when she saw the effect the strange weapon was having on her old friend. Who, it turned out, was Cora, aka the Queen of Hearts.

That was nothing compared to the shock of having cracks of light shine all over the evil woman's body and then suddenly explode into colorful sparkles and leave behind a bunch of bouncing orbs, which were immediately sucked up by the Keyblade.

"Right, well," Emma allowed her weapon to vanish as she looked upon the suspicious glares of the residents of Safe Haven, "I should probably explain about that…"

* * *

"He's an old friend. We can trust him," she explained to her daughter before turning back to the knight. "This is Emma."

"Hi," the blond waved. "Look, you got anything to eat around here? I'm starving! Just… not chimera, please. I _hate_ that stuff!"

* * *

"He's an old friend. We can trust him," she explained to her daughter before turning back to the knight. "This is Emma."

"Hi," the blond waved. "Look, you got anything to eat around here? I'm starving! Oh, awesome! _Chimera_! I _LOVE_ this stuff! You got more, right?"

* * *

"He's an old friend. We can trust him," she explained to her daughter before turning back to the knight. "This is Emma."

"Is she… well?" Lancelot asked, concerned when he noticed how green the Savior appeared to be.

"She… uh, doesn't travel well?" Snow shrugged, right before her daughter started puking like the Exorcist, right on Lancelot's armor. "Maybe we should just go lie down for a while?"

"... Did I make a good impression, Mommy?" Emma asked weakly as Snow helped drag her away towards a cot.

"There, there, baby girl, it's all gonna be OK," the absentee mother said, hating herself for actually relishing this chance to take care of her fully grown daughter.

* * *

"So… they _really_ don't like you here, huh?" Emma asked Regina as they were tied up to stakes at the center of the island and wood and kindling piled at their feet.

"Shut up, Ms. Swan," came the hard reply.

"You know you could call your Mom for help," she suggested when the wood pile started getting rather high.

"..." Regina considered it, and then made her decision. "I'd rather be burned alive at the stake, than call upon that _woman_ for help."

"... My, what a coincidence," Emma deadpanned.

* * *

"Lancelot! My friend!" David rushed forward and gave a manly-hug to the armored knight. "Emma, this is the man that married your mother and I!"

"And… _that_ puts things into perspective," Emma confessed, having not actually known that before this Loop.

Later on…

"Aaahhh!" Emma screamed as she, Mulan, Phillip, Aurora and David ran from the ogre. It was all they could do to give it scratches the equivalent of papercuts with the weapons they had on hand. "Next time, I'm bringing Mom! ' _Captain Charming_ ' Bromance be damned!"

* * *

"Why the _hell_ did I let you talk me into bringing you along for this? Your Mom is gonna kill me!" Emma whined.

"Because you'd miss me too much otherwise," Henry pointed out, quietly as they were hiding from the ogre hunting them down. "And _you're_ my Mom."

"That goes without saying," she replied just as quietly. "About missing you, I mean. Regina is going to kill us both, then have Frankenstein resurrect us just so she can do it again and again. Oh crap, it heard us! RUN HENRY! RUN!"

* * *

"... Why did I bring you along this time?" Emma asked Ruby as they stood, chained, before Lancelot, who had no reason to trust them or anything they said as he didn't know either one of them.

Ruby just shrugged, still dressed in her skimpy waitress outfit from the Diner.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Storybrooke, things were becoming rather… volatile. Fortunately, Emma had planned for that.

Practically the whole town was crammed into City Hall, all shouting at each other for one reason or another, waiting on their Prince to come along and make everything better, like the Royals were supposed to do. Unfortunately, said Prince was off hunting down every lead he could to chase after his wife and daughter, leaving Henry and the heroes' friends holding the bucket, so to speak.

"C'mon Gramps," Henry said into his phone. "C'mon, pick up! Come on! Come on!"

It went to voicemail, which was full.

"Please, everyone, just be patient," Ruby called out to the restless crowd. "I'm sure he's gonna be here any second. Granny, do you really need that?" The old woman was walking around with a loaded crossbow of all things.

"We got a lawless town, Ruby. Damn right I need it," came the ornery reply.

"Try calling him aga-aahhh!" Ruby begged Henry, but was interrupted when the sound system went on the fritz. Or at least, so it seemed.

An air-raid siren started to sound throughout the building, and arguably the town, the origin being the sound system in the meeting hall that most of the town was crammed into. Once everyone was quiet, wondering what was going on, they all watched as a movie screen lowered itself at the front of the room. A projector at the back of the room came to life, even as the light dimmed and the curtains automatically shut to block out the light.

Emma Swan, sitting at her desk in the Sheriff's office appeared on the screen. Coincidentally, at the exact same moment that Regina, hyped up on restoring her magic to retrieve her son entered the room.

"Hi everybody," Emma said, waving at the camera. "Hi Regina. Hey Henry. Right now, I bet you're all wondering what the heck is going on and thinking, 'oh god what are we gonna do now?' and other stuff like that. Oh, and Regina is thinking, 'I have to get my son back, no matter what it takes.' In spite of all the progress we made. Hopefully, will have made. By the way, Regina, if you fireball the screen, or even the projector, that won't stop the message from playing out over the sound system and PA throughout town."

Shaking her head, the Sheriff straightened up and addressed the crowd anew.

"First off, I want to apologize to everybody here and throughout Storybrooke. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't really break the Curse any sooner than I did, and," she took a deep breath and let out a sigh, "And then there was the wraith to deal with. Long story short, I knew about everything that was going to happen, that has happened, and even in some ways what _will_ happen, long before now. Call it one of the Savior's super powers for right now. I'm recording this, and other messages like it, just two days after this town elected me Sheriff. By the time this message will be played, that was seven and a half months ago."

She stopped talking to let them all absorb that information, and then resumed.

"Now, what might normally happen is that Regina would come in here, scare the lot of you, take Henry back to his home, which," she 'turned' to face exactly where Henry was in relation to the screen, "by the way you're doing anyway, Kid. Regina's your mom and besides, you'll both be getting a package in the mail tomorrow afternoon with another few messages from me. Actually," she faced front again, "you all will, for the most part. Anyway, back to what might have happened. After being scared by Regina, most of you would hightail it for the border, wanting to take a risk out in the 'real world' with only your Curse memories to go on. And you're still free to do so, if you wish. My dad would meet you at the border, though, and give you a rather rousing speech to keep you all in town. The core of which is this;"

She held up Henry's storybook, side by side with an overhead view of Storybrooke itself.

"You are both."

Murmurs of disagreement and discontent filtered throughout the crowd.

"Royal, noble, common, hero, or villain," she went on to say, "You're not in the Enchanted Forest anymore. You're in Storybrooke. Which means you have more options than you ever had before. Wanna live in the forest? Fine. Want to still work at the diner or ice cream parlour or clothing store and live in a warm house with electricity and indoor plumbing? Great, so do I. Want to live in a democracy rather than a monarchy? Guess what! Want to live in a monarchy as opposed to a democracy? Elect your same nobles to office, nothing changes."

The murmurs died down.

"That's really all that I've got to say for this message," Emma said to the camera. "But like I said, I've got others, and you'll be getting DVDs in the mail. I set it up for these to be delivered in the week following my, unfortunate, departure from town. For the record, the Enchanted Forest is still there. But there is no way, at present, to get back there from Storybrooke. And it'll take me at least two months, at the earliest, to get back to Storybrooke from there, and even then it'll be one-way. Sorry."

She was shown reaching out to turn off the camera, and then the screen went black and the lights and curtains all came back on at once. Henry quickly found his mom at the back of the room and walked right up to her and asked, "So what's for dinner, Mom?"

* * *

First meetings with Hook were usually different. Baseline had Cora basically killed every last living person alive in the Enchanted Forest, aka in Safe Haven, where Hook then hid amongst the corpses, and was then 'rescued' by the returning Emma, Snow, Mulan and Aurora from uncovering Cora's plot at pretending to be Lancelot and burning down what was left of the magic tree wardrobe cabinet thing. Emma was _really_ uncomfortable letting so many people die for basically nothing, so she worked at finding ways around that.

Which usually involved going after some _other_ way of getting back home, or just outright stating that they were not returning to Safe Haven. Although, Cora was certainly spiteful enough to just go ahead and kill them all anyway, so low odds on that. Hook would probably turn up as a refugee 'running' from the slaughter in either case.

When she finally figured out how to keep Cora from going all 'Jason Voorhees' on everybody, Hook would show up after 'heroically' rescuing her from, or at the least helping to slay an ogre, troll or other monster that would 'randomly' appear in their way. Usually, he was a bit more 'upfront' about his attraction towards Emma at that point, almost as though he expected them to end up together just because he'd help save her or whatever. The rest, following first meetings, tended to fall within the same script, no matter what she did to try and change it. At least, on the villains' side of things that is.

She tried to figure out what it was about that that really attracted her to him, but all she kept coming back to was that he was a 'bad boy', and parts of her really responded to that. Something else that occurred to her—after that one loop and her bout of identity crisis with two and a half years of constant therapy and avoiding Regina like she had cooties-was that it might not be so much Hook's dark side and bad boy nature that attracted her to him, so much as his desire for redemption and tendency to fall towards the dark side, at least at first.

It was, in hindsight, what also attracted her to Regina above her other love interests.

Neal…

Well, Neal was complicated.

Funny, she mused as they made their way toward the beanstalk, how it would end up with Neal and Hook fighting over her while in Neverland, when it probably should have been a three-way fight, from Emma's point of view at least. _After_ Neverland, things always got more complicated, insofar as her love life was concerned.

The less said about Walsh, the better.

"Let me guess," Emma said out loud as they came within sight of the beanstalk. "The compass is up there?"

"Oh, yeah," Hook replied.

"So," she said, "How do we plan on getting to it?"

"It's not the climb you need to worry about," he said ominously. "It's the giant at the top."

"It's a little freakier than you'd expect from the story," Emma commented.

"Reminds me of death," Mulan confessed.

"Encouraging," Snow muttered.

"Well, your compass awaits," said Hook. "Shall we?"

Once at the base, Emma stops Hook and tells him, "That's far enough. Thanks for leading us in the right direction, but I think _we_ can handle it from here."

"On that point, I'm afraid you're wrong lass," he remarked. "I may have failed to mention that the giant enchanted the beanstalk to repel intruders."

"And you just so happen to have the counterspell, am I right? Which you stole from Cora?" she pointed out. He gave her a roguish smile and a shrug.

"Let's see this ' _counterspell_ '," she held out her hand, and the small leather band on his wrist flew off into her grasp. Everyone looked at her, shocked at the casual display of magic, even more so as she ran her glowing white hands over the enchanted object.

"You know, I _did_ have another one," Hook whined, rubbing his raw wrist. "Cora was to accompany me. There was no need for such force."

Emma, meanwhile snorted and shook her head, turning to glare at the beanstalk. "Should've known. It's a basic gardening charm." She tossed the leather back to Hook. To Snow, she said, "The magical equivalent of wearing garden gloves while pruning thorns. Everybody hold out something that they're wearing, preferably leather or hide."

"I'm not… comfortable with magic," Aurora said, holding back.

"White magic," Emma promised. "I'm the Savior. It's sort of part of the package. No price to pay. Well, other than coming up the beanstalk to face off against an angry giant, otherwise there's no point in me using the magic in the first place. Mom?"

Snow dutifully handed over her belt without complaint or hesitation. Mulan also handed over a buckle from her armor. Phillip stood back and by his fiance/True Love.

"I don't think either of us are up for that climb, and somebody needs to stay here to guard the base, just in case," he said, holding Aurora close.

"That's fine," Emma said, glad that they were staying behind. Every time Aurora tried to make the climb, she slipped and fell off right before they got to the top, which really screwed with Mulan's head.

"Besides, somebody has to keep an eye on our prisoner," he added.

"No," Emma stopped him. "He's coming with us. Besides, you can't watch your backs and keep guard at the same time."

"I assure you, I am a man of honor," Hook said.

"You're a pirate," Phillip sneered.

"And he's a fighter," Emma stopped the argument there. "And we're going to need all the help we can get up there. Now, the enchantments are pretty strong, so they'll last a while. Definitely long enough to get us to the top of the beanstalk. Let's go. Daylight's wasting."

Another commonality was that on the long climb up, whether it was just the two of them or not, Hook always tried to psychoanalyze her. It seemed to be his way of flirting. What was interesting, to her at least, was just how scarily accurate some of his 'guesses' were, even after she'd long since moved on from the issues he'd observed in Baseline.

"First beanstalk?" Hook called down to her, with Mulan above him and Snow a bit further down from her. "Well, you never forget your first. You know, most men would take your silence as off-putting, but I love a challenge."

"I'm concentrating," she said, which was actually true, as she was working out her plan for dealing with Tiny. The Tree-Climbing exercise would be enough to get her up this thing in no time at all, but she didn't want to tip her hand too soon.

"No, you're afraid. Afraid to talk, to reveal yourself, to trust me. Things will be a lot smoother if you do," said Hook.

"You should be used to people not trusting you," Emma remarked as she came even with him, both still climbing.

"Ah," he nodded. "The pirate thing. Well, I don't need you to share. You're something of an open book."

"Am I?" she replied, trying to hide her smile.

"Quite," Hook smiled back. "Lets see… You use magic casually, but not obsessively. Meaning that while you've been exposed to it, you don't lean on it like a crutch or rely too heavily on it. To you, magic is just another tool on your belt, I'd wager."

"Not exactly wowing with the deductions there, Sherlock," she scoffed.

"It means you're dangerous," he stated. "But more than that, you're experienced. You took charge down there with hardly any effort at all. So, while you're motivated to get back to your boy…"

"That's not perception," she interrupted, "It's eavesdropping."

"Aye," Hook acknowledged. "But you don't want to step on anyone's hands, or heads to do so. I also _deduce_ that you don't wish to abandon him, as you were."

She stopped climbing, allowing him and Snow to catch up a bit.

"... Is it really _that_ obvious?"

"I spent many years in Neverland, home of the Lost Boys. They all share the same look in their eyes... the look you get when you've been left alone," he told her, sympathetic.

"Yeah, well," she shot him an angry look, "I'm not from Neverland. And I'm not alone."

"But an orphan's an orphan," he countered. "Whether they get that shiny new family they always dreamed of, or not. Love has been all too rare in your life, hasn't it? Have you ever been in love?"

She shot him a dangerous look, resuming her climbing at a redoubled pace. Her softly whispered, "Yes," lost amongst the clouds.

As she came up behind him and passed him on the beanstalk, Snow paused long enough to look the pirate in the eye and tell him, "If you hurt my daughter, in _any_ way," she smiled warmly as though she were talking to one of her students back in Storybrooke, "I will gut and flay you alive before burning you to death. With a smile on my face." She then quickly caught up to her daughter.

Mulan, who'd been just above them, heard the exchange and said to Hook, her tone and expression all-too-serious, "She'd do it too."

Hook gulped and resumed climbing.

* * *

Talking Tiny, aka Anton the Giant, down from killing them to giving her the compass and letting them go was always easy, at least for Emma. She could even do it without knocking him out or threatening to (but _not_ ) killing him while he was helpless in some random trap. The hard part was leaving Hook there to rejoin Cora afterwards. She'd learned _that_ particular lesson the hard way. Repeatedly, if she didn't find someway of trapping Hook just so they got a head start towards the lake.

Once, she even tried to take the time to explain it to him. Unfortunately, it was a 'Huntsman Running Wild' Loop, so she held out little hope of it actually making any sort of impact with him.

"Hook," Emma drew his attention from where he'd been sneaking around, trying to avoid the giant.

"You are bloody brilliant. Amazing. May I see it? The compass," he said with a wide smile as he came up next to her. She showed him the magic compass. "It's more beautiful than legend. Come. Let's go." He held out his hand to take hers, but she moved like a viper and soon had him pinned, and chained, to the wall. Oh yes, they just so happened to be in the giants' dungeon for their human prisoners. IE, the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, tugging on his chains. "What are you _doing_?"

"What you should have expected me to do," she hissed at him, startling him with her vehemence. Ever since she snuck Graham his heart back from Regina early in this Loop, she'd been dreading this confrontation. Because of what was still to come.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he called out.

"Hook, I… I can't…" She couldn't explain, not in a way he'd understand.

"Emma, look at me. Have I told you a lie? I brought you here. I risked my own safety to help you. The compass is in your hand. Why do this to me now?"

That got her back on track.

"For two reasons," she snapped at him. "Number one reason, is one that you should be familiar with hearing these days. You're. A. Pirate, Killian. To me, that automatically means three things; one, you're a _thief_! You steal what doesn't belong to you, what never belonged to you, and you enjoy doing it, so _please_ save us both your platitudes and don't bother denying _that_! Two, you sail on a boat, which requires a crew, so I know that you can be loyal, but only to your own, and only if they're loyal to you first."

"And a fine display of loyalty _this is_!" he argued, rattling his chains.

"And three," she got right in his face and he'd admit it, he was more than just a little intimidated by what he saw there. "You're a _villain_ , Mr. Jones. In my experience, people, even good people, do bad things sometimes. They _always_ have a reason. I may or may not know what your reason is, but I can see it as much as anyone that your revenge is what is driving you, it's your reason for everything that you do. What makes you a _villain_ rather than a misunderstood hero, Killian, isn't that you're out for revenge, nor even who your wanting it against, and not everything that you've done for it. It's that you _let yourself_ be blinded by it so you can't even conceive of any other path to getting what you want. Somebody stands in the way of your vengeance, you cut them down… rather than ask their help and offer yours so that they might get you what you want that much sooner."

Captain Hook glared at her, silent for once. She stood back from him and turned to walk away, saying, "Anton, the giant, will let you go in about an hour. Gives the rest of us a headstart before you go back to Cora."

"Now who's blinded by their goals?" he said darkly. "You leave me here to die, on the word of a _giant_? And whoever said I would've gone back to Cora? Where's all that talk of loyalty, now, hm?"

She rounded on him with a snarl.

"Tell me this then," she said, hotly, "You're a man of honor and of your word, I know that. So tell me, on your word of honor, if it really came down to a choice between going with us or going with Cora, even though we could both get you to Rumpelstiltskin, who would you side with? And another thing, what _is_ your honest opinion of us ' _heroes_ '? Did you think maybe we'd turn around at the last second and try to 'convince you' that killing is wrong or something? Did you think of us as 'soft' and 'weak' and maybe, just maybe even 'pathetic'? Huh?"

He didn't answer, frowning in thought as she stood there glaring, waiting for an answer.

When it became clear none was forthcoming, she shook her head, crossed her arms, and said, "And now that I've done this, the 'villain' thing to do, double-crossing you like this. Admit it. A part of you, small though it may be, respects me a little bit more now, don't you?"

The frown deepened, but he couldn't help tilting his head in acknowledgment of the point. And this fiery, passionate side of her, it just made her all the more attractive to him, he had to admit.

As though reading his mind, she nodded and said, "That's what I thought." She turned and walked away, saying over her shoulder, "I'll see you when next we meet, Captain Hook. And don't hurt Anton. He's a nice guy."

* * *

The one confrontation that Emma could never avoid, as much as she tried, was facing off against Cora, right as she and Hook were about to jump through the opened portal to Storybrooke. If she wound up in the Enchanted Forest at all, this would happen, no matter how much of a head start they had on the two villains. If she _didn't_ go to the Enchanted Forest, for whatever reason, then Cora and Hook got there first and the Loop ended the moment Cora stabbed Rumpelstiltskin and became the new Dark One, usually because Regina triggered the Self-Destruct at the same moment and they were all wiped out within minutes.

Still, she didn't exactly hate this particular battle, uncomfortable as it was to have the witch's hand stuck in her chest, at least she got to repeatedly knock the Queen of Hearts on her ass. Not to mention she got to show Hook up with some of the same sword tricks he'd 'show her' later on. It kind of said something about the man that he actually enjoyed it when she bested him like this. Exactly what that something was, she had little clue, but it was kind of endearing to her… in a way.

Gawd, she needed help to figure out this whole 'love life' of hers!

The portal was open.

Hook and Cora were just about to jump in.

"I told you I'd deliver you to Rumpelstiltskin," Cora told the one-handed pirate as she held up the magic compass. "Now, _don't let go_! Unless you want to end up in someplace that _isn't_ Storybrooke." They both made ready to jump.

Has she ever mentioned just how _awesome_ a shot her mother is with a bow and arrow?

And the woman isn't even _looping_! On top of that, she's 'a bit rusty' from having been cursed for twenty-nine years and being nine months pregnant before that. She _still_ shot the compass right out of their hands from over twenty feet away, without hurting either villain. Personally, Emma would've been fine if Cora at least got a broken finger or two out of it, but the fact remained that that kind of shot is nothing less than amazing, no matter who you are.

"You're not going anywhere!" Snow shouted over the noise of the portal.

"This portal is taking _us_ home," Emma called out.

"The compass, get it!" Snow prompted her daughter.

"Get it first," Cora told Hook. "I'll take care of them," she said as she readied a fireball in her right hand.

Magic was awesome. Switching spells beat fireballs though, in Emma's humble opinion. They still needed to beat the bad guys here, but it was nice to have them _already_ beaten when they didn't even know it.

Normally Mulan would be with them, her sword able to deflect Cora's magic fireballs, but with them rescuing Phillip, they'd actually managed to get Aurora's heart back a bit earlier in the adventure. Unfortunately, Emma still hadn't figured out a way to keep Hook from taking the girl's heart in the first place. Besides, it wasn't exactly needed anymore, if the Savior was being honest with herself.

She took a running leap, and maybe used a bit of magic, and jumped across the portal directly, casually deflecting the fireball headed for her mother with a flick of her hand, even as she landed nearly on top of Hook, swords clashing.

Seeing the other magic user distracted, Cora turned her attention on the bow-and-arrow wielding Snow, forming another fireball faster than she could notch an arrow. Of course, that only counts if she didn't _already_ have an arrow notched. The old witch caught the arrow aimed for her heart, and then shot off her fireball. Snow rolled and ducked beneath the flames, using the motion to draw and notch another arrow even as she flowed back up to her feet. The girl had learned, (when first learning how to use her weapon of choice), how to keep the arrows in the quiver while she moved and to be fully aware of her body and situation at all times. It was what kept her alive during those years the Evil Queen had been hunting her down. She shot another two arrows in rapid succession, keeping Cora's hands occupied in either catching or deflecting the long range attacks.

On the other side, Emma was lessoning Hook in swordsmanship, their exchange of blades going on for half a minute longer than it normally did, before she used the trick he'd pulled on her and knocked his sword out of his hand.

"Good form," he complimented her, holding up hand and hook in 'surrender'. "But…" he was suddenly cut off as she vanished in a swirl of white smoke, which he stumbled through in his effort to tackle her after losing his blade.

"But not good enough," she whispered as she came up behind him, her sword at his neck. While there, she pickpocketed him of a few trinkets she knew he had on him. Personal mementos, that sort of thing.

"I really dislike fighting magicians," he grumbled.

"Yeah," she whispered back as she pulled out one particular memento and and cast the 'immobilization' spell on him. It wasn't ' _Petrificus Totalus_ ', but it was what all the bad guys tended to use on heroes charging into battle and the like. "But imagine having one on your side."

Snow finally managed to get the drop on Cora, so to speak, her arrow slinging coming in fast enough that the witch had to teleport away or risk being shot. Normally this would be the brief pause in the fight where Hook kept Aurora's heart from falling into the portal and Emma retrieved her sword and everyone regrouped before the fighting started again. Seeing as it was just two on two, and Emma had already won her battle, that just left the final confrontation, and that was usually where the Savior liked to change things up. Beating the bad guy the same way just showed a lack of imagination, not to mention having somebody shove their hand into your chest, done magically or not, that _hurt_!

So, using another memento she'd take off him, Emma transfigured Hook into a… well, actually a fish hook. But not the kind you put on the end of a fishing pole, more like the ones that they use to hang sharks from in the movies. Pocketing that, she raced over toward Snow, right as Cora reappeared between them and the portal and used her magic to knock the pair off their feet and send them flying.

Emma had three surefire methods for dealing with Cora here;

* * *

Magic.

Cora advanced on the prone pair, intent on reclaiming the compass. Snow stood up to face off against the evil witch, while Emma was knocked back down with another wave of the older brunette's hand. Helpless to do anything but watch, Snow shook her head in mounting despair as she came face to face with the Evil Queen's mother.

"Why do you want to go to Storybrooke?" she asked, trying to understand her adversary's motivations, just wanting to know _why_ she'd go to so much trouble in the first place.

"Because my daughter needs me," Cora answered rather condescendingly. "And now I'm going to give her the one thing she's always wanted; Your Heart. Goodbye Snow."

Right as Cora was thrusting her hand forward, Snow was covered in a swirl of white smoke, only to be replaced by Emma, standing there with her palm open, easily catching the dark-magic-empowered fist heading for her chest. She blocked the follow-up attack, forcing Cora to retreat half a step.

"Foolish girl," she mocked as she caught sight of where Snow was, and simultaneously cast several fireballs, both at Snow _and_ at Emma at the same time. "Don't you know? Love is weakness!"

"No, you're wrong," Emma retorted, easily blocking the fire sent her way, and dispelling the illusion of where 'Snow' had been standing, which was nowhere near where her mother actually was. She then charged her own power into her fist and said, right before unleashing a wave of power that would send the unprepared Cora flying for over fifty feet before landing, "It is strength."

The white burst of energy only lasted a fraction of a second, visually nothing more than that of a camera flash. The effects, however, were monumental in comparison, as a near-visible wave of force picked the older woman up, carried her along, and then finally allowed force and gravity to take over from there. She landed on the rocky 'shore' at the edge where the water once met the land of the dried up lakebed.

Once Cora was taken out of the picture, Snow quickly came out of her hiding place and joined Emma at the edge of the portal.

"I really need to get used to you using magic," Snow said with a shake of her head.

"That is a great topic for discussion," Emma smiled, "For when we're back home." She held up the compass and allowed Snow to take her hand so they were both holding onto the magic artifact that would take them home. "Ready?"

"Let's go!" Snow nodded and they jumped together.

* * *

Raw Strength.

Cora advanced on the prone pair, intent on reclaiming the compass. Snow stood up to face off against the evil witch, while Emma was knocked back down with another wave of the older brunette's hand. Helpless to do anything but watch, Snow shook her head in mounting despair as she came face to face with the Evil Queen's mother.

"Why do you want to go to Storybrooke?" she asked, trying to understand her adversary's motivations, just wanting to know _why_ she'd go to so much trouble in the first place.

"Because my daughter needs me," Cora answered rather condescendingly. "And now I'm going to give her the one thing she's always wanted; Your Heart. Goodbye Snow."

Emma charged forward and shoved her mother out of the way, catching Cora's hand by the wrist.

"EMMA!" Snow screamed.

"Oh, you foolish girl!" Cora crowed with delight. "Don't you know? Love is weakness!"

Emma just glared at the old witch, looking her right in the eye the whole time. It wasn't until Cora tried to retrieve her hand, with Emma's heart of course, that they all actually bothered to look and see what had actually happened. Emma was holding Cora's arm with her hand, the witch's grasping hand mere inches away from her chest. And try as she might, the powerful sorceress could not budge either hand so much as even a fraction of an inch in either direction.

"No," the blond said, her tone dark and intense. "It's strength."

She then squeezed and Cora cried out in pain, nearly falling to her knees from the intensity of it. Emma kept up the pressure, and then twisted, finally dropping the old witch off her feet, and incidentally at the same time eliciting a sharp * _crack_ * from the woman's arm. Or rather, the bones that had just broken and been dislocated in it.

"More strength than a heartless creature, such as yourself, could ever fathom," she stated.

Then she punched the Queen of Hearts in the face, breaking her nose and hopefully a few other things with the heavy blow. Nodding down at the unconscious and no longer threatening villain, she shouted at her mother, "Now let's go home!"

"What… what was that?!" Snow cried out as she looked over the insensate form of her evil step-mother's mother.

"That is a great subject for discussion," Emma smiled, "For when we get home." She held up the compass and allowed Snow to take her hand so they were both holding onto the magic artifact that would take them home. "Ready?"

"Let's go!" Snow nodded and they jumped together.

* * *

Or even sometimes, sheer surprise.

Cora advanced on the prone pair, intent on reclaiming the compass. Snow stood up to face off against the evil witch, while Emma was knocked back down with another wave of the older brunette's hand. Helpless to do anything but watch, Snow shook her head in mounting despair as she came face to face with the Evil Queen's mother.

"Why do you want to go to Storybrooke?" she asked, trying to understand her adversary's motivations, just wanting to know _why_ she'd go to so much trouble in the first place.

"Because my daughter needs me," Cora answered rather condescendingly. "And now I'm going to give her the one thing she's always wanted; Your Heart. Goodbye Snow."

All of a sudden a frozen, yet-not-transfigured Captain Hook appeared in place of Snow, and Cora pulled out the man's heart out of sheer reflex.

"Oh you _fool_!" she snarled at him, not even bothering to look down at what she'd pulled out of his chest. "Can't you take care of one little girl!" She spun around to face off against the Savior herself, only to be met with the business end of an oar to the face, which Emma had swung with every bit of her considerable strength that she could. Needless to say, it knocked Cora on her ass and out cold.

Emma reached out and pulled her mother to her feet and then released Hook from the spell and dragged the both of them toward the portal.

"Emma, what are you…?" Snow started to ask.

"Swan, what just…?" Hook asked at the same moment.

"No time!" she shouted, dragging them all the harder. Once they were at the edge of the portal, she pulled out the compass and put all three of their hands around it.

"Emma, wait!" Snow cried out. "We're bringing _him_?"

"I thought that…" he started to say, but was interrupted.

"No time, no time, no time, _NoTimeNOTIMENOTIME_!" she then forced them to jump.

Cora, only knocked down for a bit, but not completely out, struggled to sit up, and finally looked at what she'd pulled out of Captain Hook's chest. It was not his heart, a glowing piece of red jeweled stone, beating at a steady pace while filled with a unique sense of magic and beauty. No, it was a lump of gray clay, with a small clock attached to it via thin metal wires. The clock kept ticking until it reached the end and suddenly let out a shrill alarm. Right before it exploded in her hands, the fiery blast of explosive force laying waste to the entire lakebed, and a good acre of forest beyond it. The trio barely made it past the lip of the portal before the flames had reached their position.

* * *

In the end, it always ended with Cora knocked flat on her ass and Emma and Snow, or other companion, running for the portal with the magic compass in hand. A quick rumble, tumble, and shake all around later, they were climbing out of the wishing well with Henry, Regina, and Gold all standing around looking like they'd just pulled their hand out of the cookie jar just before getting caught.

Of course, that quickly gave way to the joy of seeing the two lost heroes returning.

"Mom?" Henry whimpered upon seeing them climb out. "MOM!"

"Henry!" Emma called out, quickly getting down off the well and embracing her son in a loving hug. "I missed you!"

"I missed you too!" he shouted into her jacket, not wanting to let go.

"I missed you _so much_!" she kept saying over and over. Knowing she'd get back didn't change the fact that she had in fact missed her family. It was made all the better when Snow came up beside them and joined in on the hugging.

"What's going on?" Snow asked, when she noticed Gold walking away and Regina standing off to the side, looking like she'd just got run over by an ogre. "What happened?"

"She saved you, she saved _both_ of you!" Henry enthusiastically explained, obviously meaning Regina.

"Thank you, Regina," Emma gasped out as she pulled Henry back in for more hugs.

"You're welcome," the Mayor replied, finally standing straight.

"Are you OK?!" Ruby asked as she ran up.

"Hey," the blond greeted the werewolf as she hugged it out with the former school teacher. Speaking of whom, her concerns took a rapid shift as she asked an important question.

"Where's my husband? I need to find him!" Ruby nodded, and quickly dragged her old friend off find said husband.

"Um," Emma said as she approached Regina, not letting Henry out of her arms for a second longer than necessary at this point. "Your Mom… she's a… she's uh… she's a, uh, um…" she stammered for a bit, before finally just settling on what she always said about the woman. It was, literally, the _nicest_ thing she could say about the old witch. "She's a piece of work, y'know?"

"Indeed I do," Regina nodded. "Welcome back."

"Thanks," Emma whispered, leaning her head down on Henry, staring into the surprisingly compassionate brown eyes of her former rival.

Normally, she'd just walk away, taking Henry with her, and they'd meet back up at Gold's shop for David's revival. Normal went out the window when time started looping, and normal for Emma and Regina stopped after that loop where they shared a kiss while trapped in the Mirror Lands.

"Screw it," the blond muttered before surging forward and including Regina in hers and Henry's hug. "Thanks for saving us. Thanks for not giving up. Thanks for… thanks for being here, Regina."

"I… you're… welcome?" the dark-haired woman mumbled into her sleeve while trapped in the hug. She was very uncomfortable with this, they all knew, but she didn't try and get out of it either. Finally, they broke the embrace and the two children of the Charming clan started to walk off after Snow White, who was racing to wake her husband.

Right before they started on the path away from the well, Emma stopped and turned back, saying, "Hey Regina? You coming or what?"

The smile on the brunette's face spoke volumes. It was also the first step in ensuring that she didn't fall back into her mother's clutches when the woman finally arrived in Storybrooke.

* * *

After getting back from the Enchanted Forest, there was the party at Granny's Diner, which Emma _still_ invited Regina too, and she brought her lasagna that was the biggest hit at said party, despite nobody actually talking to her. Or at least, that's what happened prior to Emma taking steps to ensure Regina's redemption as soon as possible. Mostly that consisted of dragging the Mayor around and forcing her to participate in Emma's conversations. Other times it meant foisting her off onto Archie or Henry if either of them were there.

The times when she 'tried' dating the Mayor from the get-go, (not always a sure thing, and very complicated later on, especially for when Regina wasn't looping), they usually ended up just making out in a corner and leaving early, if you know what I mean?

The only changes that Emma had next to worry about, or points where she could make 'different decisions' was after "Archie" (or Graham when they were doing those kinds of loops) was found dead in his office.

When going to Gold for his help in… " _interrogating_ " the sole witness of the crime, (Pongo for Archie, or Wolf for the Huntsman), the cowardly man still insisted upon Emma, who'd more than demonstrated her ability with magic by this point, being the one to cast the actual spell. Still, she had some questions for him after watching the canine's testimony in the dream catcher.

"Now," Gold said, holding out the piece of woven thread, sticks, beads and feathers, "do you know what this is?"

"A dreamcatcher," she replied automatically, and then tilted her head as she more closely examined the pattern of threats woven into the center. "Seems to have been designed around the Lakota tribe style, based on the materials. The actual pattern though… it's a Memory Retrieval spell circle. How'd you do that?" she asked him.

"Well," he nodded his head to her, impressed, "Somebody has certainly done their homework, it would seem."

"I have degrees from Harvard in Anthropology and Native American History," she stated, factually. "No doctorates though."

The whole group blinked in surprise at that. Fortunately, Gold was quick to move on.

"Yes, well, let's see just how good the craftsman of this particular artifact truly is, shall we?" he said as he ran the feathers of the dreamcatcher over Pongo's head. The spaces between the threads began to glow with sparkling lights.

"What is that?" Belle asked, intrigued.

"Memories," Gold answered, handing the shining object over to the Savior. "Now, Ms. Swan, you show us what really happened."

Emma didn't bother proclaiming that she didn't know how, not after everything else she'd done to show off her magical prowess already. She focused on the dreamcatcher and images began to play through each and every one of the frames all at once at various speeds.

"Harder than it looks," she commented, focusing more intently.

Finally, one memory shone clearer than the rest, taking up the full space within the greater circle so they could all see the images within. Images depicting Archie in his office, going to the door, and opening it to find Regina there. He let her into the room and then walked over to the desk to get a red folder. When he turned back around, Regina was standing there and she grabbed him by the neck and then… And then Emma stopped the memory playback.

"Now," she asked Gold, keeping her focus on maintaining the image within the wooden circle, "how do I get it to show me smells?"

"Smells?" the shop proprietor repeated, intrigued.

"And sounds. If Pongo's memories here caught this much, and this just being what he _saw_ , which is a dog's weakest sense, then the rest will tell us for sure who this is," she explained.

"Emma," Charming said, holding his wife close, "Why do you refuse to see the truth, even with the evidence right in front of you?"

Keeping most of her focus on the artifact, Emma shot her father a mild glare and held off on replying for the moment. "Gold? Memories of the other senses?"

"They're all there, dearie," he stated. "You just have to focus, and _will it_. Quite frankly, I'm more than a little impressed at the level of focus you've already demonstrated here. Let me know if you ever want lessons. We'll… arrange something."

"Yeah, uh-huh," she muttered, refocusing on the memory in question and 'rewinding' it to the point of Regina entering the room. Then she waved her hand over the dreamcatcher before 'throwing' it out at the rest of the room. The other two women in the room gasped, while Charming couldn't help himself from whistling, impressed. Though it was clear that it wasn't real, they now appeared to be inside Dr. Hopper's office, with the memory still frozen around them. Of note, however, was that everything was in tones of gray… except some areas, and Archie and Regina especially, had some kind of… ' _aura'_ around them that floated up to create stereotypical fumes, each a subtly different, yet strikingly unique color.

"The colors are for our benefit, as I'm not exactly curious to know what all those stains on the carpet smell like," Emma explained for everyone. It wasn't until she said something that any of them even looked down and saw that indeed, there were more colored 'fumes' rising up from the floor. She waved her hand over the dreamcatcher once more and the memory began to play out.

"I know it's late, but I was hoping we could talk," 'Regina' said to Archie when he opened the door.

"Sure, come on in," the psychiatrist replied, opening the door for her. It was at that moment that memory took a strange turn, as they could see the blood-red 'aura' pouring off of Regina, but at the same time they heard barking all around them. Except, that barking was forming understandable sounds; 'STRANGER! DANGER! DANGER!'

"Hush, Pongo," Archie admonished the dalmatian. "You know Regina."

'STRANGER!' came one final bark, and then whimpering.

"I know how hard it is. Real change can often be...a struggle," he said as he turned back around with the folder, only to see the black-haired woman a lot closer than he expected.

"I couldn't agree more," she said, and Emma paused the memory again.

"Now for a comparison," she muttered, turning most of her attention back to the dreamcatcher. The memories all swirled around, until one stood out, she let it play for a second or two, and then 'pulled it up' so that they now found themselves on the pier. Snow and Charming noted Ruby jogging nearby, and while there were a great deal more 'scent-colors' to everything, it was all still in gray-tones.

Emma only let the memory play out a few words before stopping it again. Apparently it was a conversation where Dr. Hopper was defending himself against the Mayor's accusations of breaking Doctor/Patient Confidentiality, by him telling Emma of the progress she'd made in their sessions. Emma then did another thing and the two frozen memories appeared side-by-side, focused on the pairs of Archie and Regina.

"Anybody else seeing what I'm seeing?" she commented, not really asking.

"I don't…" Snow started to say, but Belle interrupted.

"The colors," the former maid observed. "They're different."

"What do you mean?" Charming asked, looking back and forth, and then stopped on the 'Regina' about to kill Archie. "They're both red, but…"

"Different shades of red," his wife finished for him.

Indeed, the red surrounding the Regina in the office was a through-and-through _blood red_ , while the Regina by the ocean having and argument was a steady, yet flickering _candy apple red_. Still red, but distinctly different all the same.

Emma took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she did something else and more or less overlapped the two 'Reginas'. The differences became all too clear.

"Smell isn't everything," she said, "but for there to be _this much_ similarity between these scents, the people in question would have to be from the same pack, or bloodline in human terms. So, how many blood-relatives does Regina have that we know about?"

"Cora," Rumpelstiltskin growled.

Later on, which is to say as soon after leaving Gold's Pawn Shop and getting over to 108 Mifflin Street as fast as they could, the heroes walked up to Regina's front door and rung the bell. And knocked on the door. And rung the bell three more times while knocking simultaneously.

Emma was kind of impatient at this juncture.

Especially after having been 'forced' to bring her in for questioning earlier in the day.

"Ms. Swan," Regina remarked sourly upon opening the door. "I assume you're here to apologize. Or to break my doorbell."

"We need to talk," the blond insisted. "May we please come inside? Trust me, you don't want to do this out in the open."

"Ah, so you're here to arrest me then? On false charges, I hope you know," Regina scowled. Looking back over at the rest of the 'heroes' arrayed against her, she said, "I hope you're proud. Doing something like this…"

"Regina," Emma snapped, stopping her tirade. "Please. May we come inside?"

Seeing the look in the other woman's eyes, Regina relented and stepped back, holding the door open for the three Charming Clan members.

"So," Emma began once the door had been shut tight, "There's good news and bad news, which would you like first?"

"Well," Regina responded, her arms crossed, "Given the preponderance of slander and accusations thrown my way of late, not to mention the plethora of defeats lauded upon my personage, I think I deserve a bit of good news, my dear."

"We found incontrovertible evidence, exonerating you of the murder of Archie Hopper," Emma said without delay. "You are free and clear of that, and nobody can say otherwise. Like I told you I would."

"You just had to fit that 'I told you so' in there, didn't you, dear?" Regina shook her head, though she was smiling and had uncrossed her arms.

"Regina, I'm so sorry," Snow was quick to apologize. "I just…"

"Save it, both of you," the Mayor snapped at the couple.

"Do you need a minute or two to prepare for the bad news?" Emma prompted her after a moment or two of uneasy silence.

"I've always been one for the band-aid approach," the brunette pointed out. "What is the bad news?"

"Your mother," Emma spoke slowly, tentatively, stretching out each syllable of every word, "is the one that… uh, set you up. She's in town, with Hook, and, well… they went after Archie, and either killed him or kidnapped him, because he has the inside scoop on pretty much everybody in town. Yourself… and Rumpelstiltskin included."

"Oh."

* * *

And then there was Rumple's "favor" that he always called in, for letting Cinderella keep her baby. That it just so happened to coincide with the arrival of an outsider to town alongside Hook's attempt on the crocodile's head merely compounded the pressure everyone was feeling, but thus far Emma had yet to get Rumpelstiltskin to take her up on using that favor earlier, nor on finding some other way of getting Ashley out from under her contract with the imp.

Try as she might to get out of it, or even to delay their departure by even a single day, the 'present day' Dark One would have none of it and insisted on leaving as soon as possible. Taking Henry with them was just plain good judgment as Cora was almost always running around, whether Regina was on her side or theirs was secondary to the fact that the old witch would not hesitate for even a second to kidnap him and either threaten him to gain Regina's cooperation, or take him _for_ her daughter in the first place. Still, that left Owen in the hospital, and while Emma definitely sided on the 'letting him die' side of the argument (after the Loops started anyway), once more she got outvoted and Whale went and saved the bastard's life. By the time they got back to Storybrooke with Neal, he'd be out and Tamara wouldn't be far behind.

So, in being outvoted, Emma did the only thing she could, and arrested his lying ass. It left him handcuffed to his bed until he could be properly processed, but it did keep him from eavesdropping on other people's conversations. She also flushed his phone after snapping the SIM Card of course.

Things in New York, minus the revelation that she'd lied to Henry about his dad, (because she'd stopped doing that, another breakthrough in their therapy sessions), happened almost identically every time. Even chasing Neal down and 'letting' him talk her out of meeting his father/their son. Never worked out.

Oh, and then Hook showed up with that poisoned dagger of his and they had to rush back to Storybrooke to get the Dark One magically healed. Which is where she could once again try and make things different… or not.

Unfortunately, even after dozens of loops, seventy-two to be precise about it, she had no way to avoid… _Neverland_.

Yes, she could arrest both Owen and Tamara, or whatever her real name was, keep them both imprisoned, half convincing the town she'd gone and turned into some kind of justice-obsessed tyrant at the same time, but in the end one of several things would happen that would ensure the lot of them following the deranged pair to Neverland in order to rescue Henry. The most common, if she arrested them, was that they'd be broken out, usually by Hook, Regina, or Gold for a whole slew of reasons, usually lies that the two of them told to get the villains to let them go. If she didn't arrest them, even hiding the diamond away herself, they _still_ got their evil little hands on it and triggered the damn thing, taking Henry in the confusion to follow. The one time, and unfortunately it truly was only once (so far), she managed to _keep_ them in prison, they wound up dead in their cells, and while it was delayed by a week at most, the two strangers (who she'd learn were grown-up-time-lost versions of Michael and John Darling, Wendy's younger brothers) showed up in town and did the same thing Owen and Tamara did, only more effectively as they didn't need the confusion of the near-destruction of the town to hide their actions. Quite frankly, she was of the opinion that those two didn't deserve to die nearly so much as O &T, especially since they were only doing what Pan said so they could one day see their sister again.

On top of that, there was also the consequences of dealing with Cora. There was no ifs, ands, or buts about it, she _had_ to go. Even with her Heart, which Emma found out when she actually managed to get to her mom and Regina and convince them to just give the old witch back said Heart _un_ cursed, she _still_ killed Rumpelstiltskin and became the Dark One. The Loop ended shortly after with the permanent death of… let's see; her Mom, Snow White, her Dad, David 'Charming', oh yeah, and apparently because she was on a power-trip, Cora also killed her daughter by crushing Henry's heart in front of her and then snapping Emma's neck moments after. Not many people know this, but you can actually survive a broken neck, provided of course none of the arteries or veins pumping blood through your brain are punctured and your trachea remains intact enough to continue allowing air through. Won't ever be able to walk or voluntarily move anything more than your eyelids ever again, but you'll live. Or at least she did long enough to witness Regina commit murder-suicide by activating the Self-Destruct and taking the town with her in her grief.

So… yeah.

Cora has to die.

Eventually even Regina admits to that, though at the time she'd be super-pissed about the whole thing and would go so far as to kill to defend her power-crazed mother. Though it should be noted that Regina always pursues vengeance for any wrongs committed against those she loves; especially their unjust murders. So what does it say that she never once fully committed herself to any form of true vengeance on behalf of her mother's death? Hm.

Unfortunately, if Cora dies, Regina burns down the magic bean fields and goes to retrieve the Self-Destruct with Hook's help. No matter what Emma does, and she's tried everything short of taking the Mayor prisoner and tying her down somewhere, there doesn't seem to be anything she can do to convince the woman _not_ to take those actions. Although, she was pleased to find out later on in those loops where she was more-or-less dating the Mayor that she'd intended on taking Emma _with_ herself and Henry through the portal after triggering the Self-Destruct. So… that was something at least.

Hardly one to let frustration get in her way, at least not this early in the game, Emma tried to work out some way of getting everything to work out in the best possible way. Ideally that would be; nobody dead, the magic bean fields _and_ fairy dust mines flourishing, Cora dead, Regina redeemed and _Happy_ , Henry safe, and most importantly _NOT_ going to Neverland!

She sincerely doubted she could pull off that last one, but she'd at least have a bit of fun trying to ensure the rest.

* * *

Emma walked into the Recovery ward, her face a mask of intense focus as she held onto the plastic bag of one "Greg Mendell"s personal effects. Since she was indoors, and it was closer to spring rather than winter, she'd forgone her red leather jacket, just wearing her black denims and a thin dark navy sweater with the sleeves bunched up, her Sheriff's Badge on her belt at her right hip. When the mostly-bald man noticed her, he called out, "Nurse!"

Having already been 'offended' by his and his girlfriend's future actions, Emma did nothing to hide her 'taking offense' at the confusion. "Sheriff," she corrected him with a mild glare and maybe a bit of a pompous tone, "Swan, actually."

The man had two black eyes and bruising all over his face, but he still turned away from her as he seemed to squirm in the bed, something that wasn't entirely healthy for a person with his injuries to do. Then he seemed to latch onto something off to the side, and he mumbled out, "Thirsty?"

How the hell did she not see all of this the first time? Emma asked herself as she shook her head and retrieved the glass of water with straw for the injured man.

"Here," she handed it to him as he struggled to sit up. It was apparently not the first time he noticed the handcuffs on his right wrist, holding him to the hospital bed. In hindsight, it might have been that one change that let her see his nervousness so openly this time around. "I have your personal effects here. Mr. Mendell… can you tell me what this is?" She fingered one item in particular within the plastic bag.

"Uh…" finished with the water, he put it on the 'tray' attached to the bed and tried to 'look' close enough to see what she was pointing at. "No, I'm afraid I can't make it out. What is it? I'm sure I have a good explanation for it whatever it is, Sheriff…

"It's a gun," she deadpanned. "With _illegal_ armor-piercing rounds."

"It's not mine!" he declared.

End Result; called in his 'lawyer', Tamara, and she broke him out the day they took Henry and set the town to be wiped out.

* * *

"Here," she handed him the glass of water with complimentary straw. "I have your personal effects here, Mr. Mendell. I just have one quick question for you." She held up a separate plastic bag containing only one, unmistakeable item. "Were you driving under the influence?"

"I…" he gulped, staring at the joint sitting at the bottom of the bag. Then he glanced briefly at the other bag, of his effects, and hung his head down in shame and answered, "I was. Yes."

She nodded and went to the other side, pulling out her handcuffs as she did so. "Greg Mendell, you are under arrest for the charges of driving under the influence, possession of an illegal substance, and reckless endangerment, and probably a lot more once I actually sit down to do the paperwork. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you before any questioning if you wish. Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?"

End Result; stayed in his cell (in the psych ward, aka the dungeons) and waited for court-appointed lawyer to come see him. _Died_ in his cell from mysterious circumstances. Two days later, the Darling brothers rolled into town and kidnapped Henry.

* * *

"Here," she handed him the glass of water with complimentary straw. "I have your personal effects, I'm just going to put them here, OK?" She put the bag down on the bedside table off to the side. Taking a deep breath, she unconsciously put her hands on her hips and said to him, as he finished sipping, "So, Mr. Mendell, I wanted to talk to you about the accident."

He adopted a horrified expression on his face, though it never quite reached his eyes, she noted. He asked, in an appropriately-horrified-tone, "Did I hit somebody?"

She silently nodded, her own expression saying the rest.

"Oh god," he moaned, and _now_ the guilt and horror reached his whole face, eyes included, "I hit someone. Is he OK?"

Emma pursed her lips and used every trick that Regina, and other 'professional liars' had taught her over the years to pull off the next bit without a single 'Tell' shining through. "It is unclear at this point. He's still in surgery, much worse off than you were, and you at least had your seatbelt on. And also…" She stopped herself there.

"What?" he begged to know.

"Before we get into that," she said, walking to the end of his bed so she could look him in the eye, "I do need you to state what happened, in your own words, what you did. What you saw."

"What? I didn't see anything," she started shifting in his bed again.

"Well, you were driving," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but…" he struggled to come up with something to say. "I saw the road, of course."

"I just think that if we go back over the sequence of events, we can piece together…"

"I was texting," he cut her off, apparently only _just_ thinking of the lie.

"Oh," she nodded her head slowly, hands still on her hips, but now clenched into fists.

"I looked down," he told her, "Just for a second, and when I looked back up, he was right there! And he was too close to avoid, but I… I know that it's not legal. In Maine."

Bingo!

"I'm afraid it is worse than being caught texting while driving Mr. Mendell," she told him in a grave tone. "The man you hit, he may not make it, which would up the charges, but there's more. There were actually three people on the road that night, and I've already looked into what they were all doing. Unfortunately, due to your actions on the road that night, not only is one man on the verge of dying, which would mean a charge of vehicular manslaughter…"

"Oh god!" he moaned.

"But one of the people, a young woman by the name of Belle, was so traumatized by the event that she's now got amnesia. On top of _that_ , in the crash you damaged the property of a man we in town call Mr. Gold. Think of him as the small town version of the godfather, just to put things into proper perspective for you. To be specific, you winged his taillight on your way off the road. And just between you and me, I'd be more worried about _that_ , than the pending felony charges."

"I'm gonna die, aren't I?" he wailed.

"Yep-pah!" Emma popped her lips on the word.

End result; plead guilty, stayed in his dungeon cell until found dead of mysterious circumstances, two days later, Darling brothers, Henry kidnapped.

* * *

"Here you go," Emma handed over the water, and then took a seat on the available visitor's chair.

"So, Mr. Flynn," she began, only for him to interrupted her with a coughing fit as water went down the wrong pipe it would seem. She'd have to work on her timing to see about getting a 'spit-take' from him instead.

"What did you call me?" he coughed out once he could speak again.

"Owen Flynn," she said, holding up the folder she was carrying, rather than his personal effects. "Ran your prints while you were in surgery. It's kind of funny really. I was just about to call you for the third time, when you drove into town. Well, your listed home number anyway. I didn't have your cell phone number. Going around with a burner and a fake ID under some alias will really keep you from getting those important phone calls, let me tell you."

"Wh-wh-why would you be trying to c-con-contact O-oh-ow-Owen F-Flynn?" he stammered. "Not that I'm admitting anything just yet, Sh-Sheriff."

"Fingerprints," she repeated. "Anyway, it's probably best to do this face to face rather than over the phone. Friend of mine recommends the band-aid approach to getting bad news, although, in your case, given how long you've been looking, it _might_ be good news?" she shrugged.

"What is it?" he wanted to know.

She stood up and looked him in the eye, handing him the folder as she said, "We found your father."

Owen stopped breathing and practically tore the folder open to read.

She let him process everything for a bit, hoping this gamble paid off in the end. Then, when she saw him actually able to look past the pictures of bones and crime scene photos, to being able to read the attached report, she went ahead and told him what it said.

"A few weeks ago, a kid got lost in the woods around this area, and in the resulting search party, beyond finding the missing kid, these remains were discovered in the deep woods, near the mountain peaks overlooking the town. Took our forensics a while to go through everything, but we have some capable people in town. Took a bit of detective work on my part, but, based off of missing persons reports and the estimated time of death, it was forensically proven that… these are the remains of one Curtis Flynn, missing father of Owen Flynn."

"This-this… this says that he died of the exposure?! What does that mean?!" he shouted.

"We _think_ ," Emma emphasized the word, retrieving the folder as she spoke, "that somehow, in spite of his experience hiking, he got lost in the woods, maybe got injured, hit his head or something. There was an injury to the back of his head, and before you think that he was attacked or anything, forensics were inconclusive. It could have been anything from falling on a sharp rock to being hit by a thrown projectile. Whatever actually happened… I'm sorry, Mr. Flynn, but it's been nearly three decades by this point. And we can't even be sure that where your father's remains were found was even the place where he died."

"What do you mean?" he demanded to know.

"There was…" Emma paused and made a small show of 'swallowing her bile back down' before continuing, "...evidence of... scavenging. By animals. I'm so sorry."

By that point he couldn't hold his tears back in and was in short order an inconsolable ball of childhood grief. But it worked.

End result; Owen took his father's remains 'back home' and was nowhere near Storybrooke when Neal and Tamara got there, and was apparently still dealing with getting his father's bones looked at by every forensic analyst in the country to get proof of foul play by the time the Darling brothers rolled into town.

One down, one to go. Sort of.

* * *

Rather than hole up in Gold's shop behind some hastily drawn wards (Seriously, _invisible CHALK_?!) Emma and the other heroes forced the confrontation with Cora much sooner and in a far more open setting than normal. Meeting her and Regina out on the street, Snow armed with her bow and arrow, David with his sword, and for Emma a gun in one hand with a ball of shining white light in the other.

"It doesn't have to be this way, Regina!" Emma called out.

"Oh, but it does," Cora answered for her daughter.

"You stay the hell out of this, you old witch!" the blond shouted back at her.

Cora's eyes narrowed and she ignited fireballs in both hands.

"Wow, that didn't take much," the Savior muttered to herself. Turning to her parents, she said, "Keep Regina busy, but don't hurt her. Got those talismans, by the way?" They both nodded and charged forward together to face off against the Evil Queen one more time.

As for Emma and Cora, well, once she'd expended all the bullets in the gun, (she did at least manage to wing the old woman, but it was nothing but a flesh wound), between dodging fireballs, she attacked with her own version of the explosive projectiles; the Lightning Ball spell. Basically, think _Lightning Bomb Combo_ from the _Star Wars: The Force Unleashed_ videogame. After maybe a minute or less of back and forth, not to mention a few thousand dollars worth of collateral damage, Emma finally got close enough to try something she'd been working on for a while now. She blamed it on continuously becoming the Dark One later on in all the loops, but thankfully each time she 'vanquished' the Darkness with the reforged Excalibur, so it was still all good. Nevertheless that is probably where the idea came from in the first place, well either that or watching too much _Red VS Blue_ reruns on NetFlix, and it is most certainly during that time frame that she came up with the modified spell for it in the first place. After all, when you think about it, the spell for it already exists in the form of the one to take somebody's heart out and crush it. Wasn't that hard to, well…

Emma reached out and struck like a snake, her hand inside the older woman's chest before she knew what was going on. That action, of the Savior of all people, reaching into somebody's chest to take out their heart… Everybody stopped what they were doing and just stared in open shock.

Cora, quickly getting over the surprise of having the Savior try such a tactic, started to laugh. "Silly girl. I took my heart out _ages_ ago. I have no need for such weakness!"

Emma just smirked, and then twisted her arm around, and reached _further_ in.

"Wh-what are you…?" Cora found she couldn't talk and suddenly found it difficult to think. She could feel Emma's magic inside her, probing, reaching, _pulling_ , _**taking**_!

Emma stepped back, yanking her hand out of Cora's chest, and bringing with it… a _crystal skull_! Everyone just continued to stare in open mouthed shock at the display, even Cora had no words, just staring at _her own skull_ in the blond's hand. Emma then backhanded the woman with the object, knocking her to the ground.

She then proceeded to beat Cora to death with her own skull.

"That… doesn't seem physically possible," Regina couldn't help commenting.

* * *

Regina was hiding down in her crypt. Vault. Whatever. She was in hiding.

"Mom!"

Or at least she was.

Hearing a voice through the walls of the mirror-filled apartment she'd installed off to the side of her vault, she approached one mirror in particular as the voice continued to call out.

"Mom? Hello! Hello? Mom! You in there?"

She waved a hand over the glass, allowing her to see what was going on the other side of the wall. Her son, Henry, was wandering around down in the crypt, looking for _her_! He stopped right on the other side of the 'mirror wall' and shouted right at her, "Can I come in? Mom?"

Weighing the pros and cons, but mostly just happy to see him looking for her, rather than sticking around the, ugh, _Charmings_ for any longer, it made her decision for her more than anything else. She opened the 'door' in the wall.

He turned at the sound and questioned, "Mom?" Then he stepped through and seeing her on the other side, he immediately hugged her with a short cry of, "Mom!"

"Oh," Regina whispered to him, "Henry, I'm so glad you're here."

Pulling back out of the hug, she looked him in the eye as she told him, "I missed you so much, but... I have to let you know that I had _nothing_ to do with Graham."

"I know," 'Henry' nodded. "I always knew."

"I was framed," she went on to say. "I don't know how, it just seems like everything…" she trailed off suddenly and asked him, "You knew? How did you know?"

"Simple," 'he' replied, before disappearing in a cloud of dark purple smoke, which swirled up to ultimately reveal Cora in all her evil noble witch regalia. "Because I did it," she confessed.

" _Mother_?!" Regina gasped, taking an instinctive step back from the woman that gave birth to her, although it could be argued how much she actually raised her.

" _Y-y-you_!" the black-haired Mayor stuttered, taking a step back for every pace Cora advanced. "I thought we stopped you! How did you get through?"

"Determination," said Cora, still stepping closer. "I had to see you. I needed to tell you that I _know_ why you sent me through the Looking Glass. And I _know_ why you tried to have me killed. And it's…" She stopped and gave all the markers of sympathy, even giving up an 'understanding shrug' with the tearful eyes, "It's alright."

Regina, who was absolutely _not_ faking the tears in her eyes, slowly shook her head, whispering, "I think it's not alright!"

Cora, looking the younger woman in the eye, said, "I love you."

Regina never wished for Emma Swan to be present than at that moment, just so she could be sure, one way or the other, of whether or not that was the truth.

"I just…" Cora stammered, tightening up her throat muscles, "I've just shown it in all the wrong ways. And I _never_ should have made you marry the king. I'm so sorry. When you cried over my coffin, it all changed."

"You framed me," Regina accused her, her own voice tight with emotion. "For the Huntsman!"

"Temporarily," Cora amended. "So that you could see what these people really think of you. I can fix it."

"You made an airtight case," Regina pointed out. "It can't _be_ fixed!"

"I didn't want you to reject me, not again," Cora said with a grimace.

Regina was already shaking her head, saying, "You wanted me broken."

"Receptive," she corrected.

Regina gave a pained laugh and started to say something else, but before she could there was a loud sound coming from the back of the 'apartment' they were in. In any other similar housing arrangement, it would be where the bathroom was. Both Mills women turned to look at the noise, which soon revealed itself to be a person walking barefoot down the carpeted hall after closing the aforementioned bathroom door.

"Hey Regina," a nearly naked and soaking wet Emma Swan called out as she stepped into view, too busy drying her long blond hair to bother seeing that they were no longer alone, "I think I might have used up all the hot water, so we'll either need to get that water heater fixed or get with the fireball making the next time we want a hot shower."

"Uh… Emma?" Regina called out with a weak voice.

"Oh, hey," she said to the reflected image of the power-suit-wearing woman, somehow completely missing or ignoring the fuming Cora standing only a few feet away. "I was thinking maybe we could watch a movie on NetFlix tonight. Good as your home cooked meals are, I'm OK with just sticking something in the microwave and…"

"Emma!" Regina called out more sharply.

"Geez, OK," Emma held up her hands in surrender and casually tossed the towel she'd been using to dry her hair over her shoulder. "We'll cook, or whatever. And," the blond's smile became more mischievous as she her hands went to unknot the the towel that was just barely containing her modesty as it was, "if you don't want to watch a movie, I'm sure that we can come up with some-AAH!"

Well, that answered the question as to whether or not she'd seen Regina's mother standing there already.

Tightening the knot, rather than letting it go loose, not to mention tugging down on the front of the towel as much as she was holding it tight to her chest, she tried to be as casual as she possibly could as she said, "Hi. Cora. Regina's Mom. Hi, Regina's Mom. Look, there is a perfectly good explanation for this, I…"

"EMMA!" Regina shouted out loud.

Wincing, Emma nodded and stopped talking. She also hurried over to stand behind her… apparent girlfriend, for at least a modicum of decency, and subconscious support.

"I…" Cora was at a complete loss, as nothing of her research or investigation had prepared her for _this_ eventuality. There wasn't even a hint of any evidence to suggest that her daughter and the Sheriff were… were… or even that her daughter… _liked girl_ s like that! She needed to do more research. "I should go," she finally said.

"Oh no you don't!" Regina snapped, caught between trying to stop her mother from leaving and protecting her girlfriend's dignity. "You are going to confess and prove to everyone that I didn't murder Graham Hubbard!"

"It's the middle of the night," Cora pointed out. "And you seem to have the Sheriff… occupied as it is."

The blond and raven-haired couple exchanged looks, before finally just shrugging at each other. Regina took the lead, considering Emma's current state.

"Sheriff Swan always believed me when I said I was innocent of this crime. She just couldn't prove it. And now that you just confessed to me that you're the one who did it, well that should be all the evidence anyone needs," Regina stated. "Emma go put some clothes on, please?"

"Well, I would, but, the moment your Mom is gone, we both know that you're just going to rip them off of me again," she saucily pointed out.

"Perhaps, but I'm not so far gone that I'd willingly 'do it' _in front of my mother_!" she argued back.

"Yeah, well, tell that to _my_ parents, who have no problem doing it in the middle of the day. In their bed. Have _you seen_ the layout of that loft?! I am traumatized for life now, you know that, right?"

"Trauma doesn't authorize indecency and perversion!"

"Says the woman that terrorized _nations_ over the death of her boyfriend!"

"And then forced into a loveless marriage, not to mention raising the brat that got him killed!"

"She was manipulated, and you _know_ that! Not to mention, _she was ten years old_!"

"And I wasn't even a decade older than her! I at least knew how to keep a secret when _I_ was that age! Don't try and change the subject either, Ms. Swan!"

"Oh, here we go again! One step forward, ten steps back! Every time I make you the slightest bit angry, it's back to 'Ms. Swan' this and 'Ms. Swan' that! I'm _Emma_ , Regina! And I love you! So, forgive me if I sometimes wish to express that love in places that aren't entirely private. I'm _sorry_!"

"Oh Emma…"

There was an uneasy silence, broken only by the soft scuffle of Cora backing away to the door, a stricken expression on her face.

"I should go," she started to say, opening the wall-door.

"No, Mother…!" Regina started to leap after her, but was held back by Emma drawing her into a kiss… a Kiss that unleashed a wave of light that lit up all the dark corners of the room and beyond.

Cora was left standing there, staring at a nude Sheriff making out with her fully-clothed Mayor and felt the stirrings of real heart-wrenching emotion in years. Grasping her chest, she fled the crypt without saying another word.

When the kiss finally ended, Emma's blue eyes looked into Regina's brown eyes, and asked, "So… what do you think of the chances of Operation Rattlesnake actually working?"

"Um… sorry, what?"

Emma smiled and picked up her towel before 'dressing herself' in a swirl of white magic. "It's what I'm calling the plan to kill your mother by giving her a heart attack, or similar, through repeated shocks to her system."

Snorting out a brief laugh, the black-haired woman rubbed at her lips as she answered, "Unfortunately, I don't think she has a heart to attack, in that way at least. And she was never one to let setbacks frustrate her. Not that I ever saw, so giving her a coronary won't work either."

"Still," Emma shrugged, kissing her on the cheek and heading back to the bedroom area, "It'll be fun trying."

Regina grinned and had to agree to that.

* * *

Ultimately, dealing with Cora came down to Regina being the actual one to take action. While Snow might have cursed Cora's heart to kill her in exchange for Rumpelstiltskin's life, Regina was the one to put it back in place so that said curse could take effect. When all was said and done, Cora considered Regina 'under her control' near the end there, and thus a huge blindspot that prevented her from even suspecting her daughter of betrayal. Provided, of course, that Regina allowed herself to be brought under her mother's sway in the first place. Not exactly something Emma was all that eager to allow in the first place, but then… it wasn't really her decision, now was it?

"Are you sure about this?" the blond asked as Snow handed over _the candle_ to Regina, with David and Graham standing in the background. Henry was hanging out with Ruby, Granny and the Dwarves for right now.

"No," Regina admitted, accepting the cursed object. "But what other choice do I have? You… you believed in me when nobody else would, Emma. When nobody else _could_. And now you say that my mother did all of this…" she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and let out a huge sigh, "... _All of THIS_ , just to get her hands on the Dark One's dagger, and _become_ the next Dark One. And she'll do that even _if_ she gets her heart back and realizes she doesn't need it."

Grimacing, Emma nodded her head, saying, "I've seen it. She says the same thing every time. That," her voice broke a little, but she soldiered on, "That you were enough. You hug it out and everything. And then she kills Gold and becomes the Dark One… and kills pretty much all of us. In… in your despair, you trigger Storybrooke's self-destruct."

"Storybrooke has a _self destruct_?!" Snow exclaimed.

"My little addendum to the Curse," Regina shrugged. "In case I ever got bored. To be honest, I'd all but forgotten about it until now."

"Makes me real glad you're on our side now," David couldn't help commenting.

"How does it work?" the reformed Evil Queen asked, rather than reply to the dig.

"You light both ends of the candle," Snow answered, "hold it over the person's heart, whisper their name and blow out the candles. Then the hard part is going to be getting it back into Cora's chest."

"No, unfortunately," Regina said as she magically lit the ends of the candle, " _this_ is the hard part. And the sad thing is," she quickly performed the ritual over her mother's heart and blew out the flames, "that it isn't hard at all."

She put the cursed heart back in its box and walked out before anybody could stop her. She met her mother at Gold's shop, and while the old witch was 'saying her goodbyes' to her old lover while simultaneously crowing over her victory, Regina snuck up behind her and slammed the woman's heart back into its proper place.

Rumpelstiltskin was healed while her mother stood their dying. They shared one last tender moment together, her mother's final gift as it were, and then Emma and the other heroes rushed in to see her cradling the body and weeping over her loss. The Savior didn't even hesitate in dropping her sword and embracing the mourning Mayor in her arms.

Nobody said anything at all.

There was nothing to say.

The witch was dead.

And this is how she always died.

* * *

Tamara was a top of the line grifter. She might consider herself some kind of 'secret operative' or 'anti-magic spy' for some top secret organization that was hellbent on keeping magic out of the real world, but it all boiled down to one thing, no matter how you spun her tale; she lied so well that she could convince everybody she met that she was telling the truth.

After the first loop, where she had to spend most of the time explaining that she _wasn't_ jealous, Emma finally got around to getting the whole story on just how she'd gone about integrating herself so thoroughly into all their lives. Starting with August and his running into her at the same time he was meeting with the Dragon. Through dedicated research, and a few 'off-the-record' questions from various authorities outside of Storybrooke, she began to paint the picture of Tamara Greene's life. Oh yeah, the name she'd told both men, (or all three, counting Greg/Owen) was only half right, giving each of them a different surname.

Once she managed to stop 'acting jealous' the moment Tamara walked into town, on Neal's invitation no less, Emma had to come up with _some_ reason to arrest her lying ass. Best way to do that, she figured, was to have the case ready to go before she ever set foot in town.

Thanks to August, she knew Tamara had visited/tried to kill the Dragon, not to mention set up a pattern of lying. Thanks to Lily, she knew that Tamara had tried to kill the dragon before even Emma had set foot in Storybrooke, and that by the time the grifter got there, she'd hoped the Dragon would be up for a trip to Northern Maine, if only to get a bit of vengeance against the woman that had attacked him. So, while Emma, Henry and Gold went off to get Neal/Baelfire, Lily went to collect the Dragon, alongside her mother Maleficent (provided of course that Emma had just cut the egg out of her rather than killed her for it) to add some weight to the request. He didn't come all that often, though there were times that he got there right after Tamara had arrived, trapping the woman in a cage of her own lies.

Speaking of which, the woman had a number of them for when Emma finally came around to arrest her. Usually 'Greg Mendell'(until the Savior had finally figured out the best way to get rid of him was to shove his father's remains into his hands and send him 'home' to bury him) was already in prison, so the woman had been on her guard, especially around Emma, undoubtedly delivering her A game with every word she said. Some of her favorites were;

"Neal, baby, you're not going to believe your Ex over something like this, especially when…"

"I've never seen this… man, if he can even be called a man, before in my life!"

"Who the hell is 'the dragon'? And why would I even want to visit some crackpot medicine man kook living down in Chinatown of all places? I mean, c'mon, everybody knows that's where all the con-artists live. Did he read your tea leaves while he was selling you on some 'magic potion'?"

"Of course I have a taser! I'm a woman living in the city. Why wouldn't I have a taser?"

"Oh, I see what this is. You're jealous of me and Neal. You never had what we have, so you're railroading me. Abusing your authority! Well I am gonna sue your ass…!"

"Uh, yeah, duh! I work for a multi-national corporation. Of course I have a contact called, The Home Office. What about it? . . . Wait, what the hell do you mean it uses magic? That's not… It's a trick! You're using your magic to try and fool me, you witch!"

"I've never heard of this… _Pan_ , you're talking about. Unless you mean the mythical Greek god, or the children's storybook hero . . . What the hell is that supposed to mean, 'Exactly!'? . . . Whoa, OK, you've lost it lady. Peter Pan isn't real… Ohmigawd, are you for real? He's real? And… wait, he's Neal's _grandfather_?! How does that even… Why are you calling my Home Office, with _my_ cell phone?! . . . Oh god, it's true…"

"Oh, I see what this is. Your jealous. Of Neal. Well, sorry sister, I don't swing that way. Later, lesbo."

"THIS IS ABUSE OF AUTHORITY! . . . WELL YOU ARE A LESBO, YOU LESBO WITCH! WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE…!"

Shoving it in the bitch's, sorry, the grifter's face just how bad she was screwed was fun, especially as later loops revealed more information about how Tamara and the rest of Pan's minions on Earth worked. The conversations she had with Pan over Tamara's cell were always enlightening. And usually quite dangerous, as he moved on the attack almost immediately, and in spite of whatever protections they put him under, Henry was kidnapped to Neverland by the next morning.

Unfortunately, Emma had yet to uncover any tactic or strategy that got Tamara to chase after her real boyfriend, Owen, when the man left to bury his father. Which meant imprisoning her, which meant her being found dead of mysterious circumstances inside the locked cell, or letting her roam free and enacting Pan's plan. Arresting her for abuse and attacking an officer of the law, on those handful of loops where she and Regina were openly dating, was just icing on the cake when it came to dealing with the bitch-sorry, grifter.

As for Neal, well…

Again, Emma didn't really buy into the whole 'Fate' and 'Destiny' and all that. Sure, there were visions of the future that could depict someone's destiny, but she was also a firm believer in the Free Will clause, which allowed one to make their own destiny, create their own fate. The fact that Neal's was to fall into that portal, no matter _who_ dropped the Magic Bean, was more than a bit annoying.

* * *

"It's over!" Emma gasped, holding the gun on the person that had just shot the father of her child, after fighting with them throughout the hallway right before they were about to kill him.

Tamara/John/Michael/Felix, slowly picked theirself off the ground and quickly threw down something that they'd been hiding behind their back, snarling, "No, it's not!"

Seeing the Magic Bean, and already knowing it was too late to stop it, Emma jumped up and grabbed ahold of the first sturdy thing she could find, even as the portal opened beneath her feet. Before running off, Tamara/John/Michael would always say, "Bye." While Felix would stand there, smirk, and say, "Pan never fails," before strolling off.

"EMMA!" Neal cried out, getting to his feet despite having just been shot in his right kidney/liver/stomach/right lung.

"WHY THE HELL DO THESE THINGS _ALWAYS_ HAVE GRAVITY LIKE A BLACK HOLE?!" she screamed out, almost every time, while hanging on for dear life. A handful of times she went ahead and used the portal to get to Neverland ahead of time, only to have Neal almost instantly jump after and die of his wounds. Also, Pan pretty much killed her on sight rather than play his game, causing an instant reset. She had a feeling that if she'd had the opportunity to do so, she could heal Neal with her magic, but again, Pan never allowed her that opportunity if she arrived _before_ Henry did. Bastard.

Swinging around, Neal caught her and pulled her away from the edge of the portal. "I gotcha, I gotcha!" he cried out.

"Hold still!" she focused her magic on his bullet wound. There was never enough time to get him to a hospital, and it was stupid to say that when she could heal him right then and there. Except.

"No," he grabbed her wrists. "No magic. I'll just go to a…"

The floorboards creaked and snapped before either of them could do anything.

"NEAL!" she screamed, grabbing tight to his hand with her left and holding onto the edge of the wood outside the portal's range. Neal's legs were already dangling pretty much inside the middle of the hole in space as it was.

"EMMA!" he shouted back, clenching his grip tight. If only it hadn't been with the arm on the side he'd been shot on. "You can't hold both of us!"

"HOLD _STILL_!" she repeated, and closed her eyes, willing her magic to work.

"You have to let go of me!" he cried out in pain.

"No, you're _shot_!" she shouted down at him. "If you fall through that portal, you'll die no matter what world you land in. Now, _hold the FUCK STILL_!"

Her magic washed over him, channeled through their clasped hands, and focused on the bullet still inside him and the damage it had done. Stomach wounds were the worst, she'd found, because the intestines always got nicked and were spilling poison, otherwise contained, into the rest of the body, inviting infection.

Getting out the bullet was easy. It was just a small bit of metal inside a human body, where it wasn't supposed to be. As easy as moving a hook off of someone's arm and hanging it off a nearby light fixture. Easier even. Repairing the damage took the most power and concentration.

"Ah!" he cried out, "But Emma… Henry needs you! He can't lose both of us. Don't make him grow up like we did!"

Originally, and the few times after, she'd begged him not to let go, told him she loved him, and he loved her back. He did. She knew he did. But.

She wasn't in love with him anymore.

So she did the next best thing that she could. She gave him hope.

Healing as much as she could, so he wouldn't die within the next twenty-four hours so long as he got the wound cleaned and patched up, she then shouted down at him, "Neal… Baelfire! Think about where you've been all these years! Think about where you were after your father abandoned you! Think about where Pan is taking Henry right this very second!"

Neal's eyes widened.

"Think about where we'll be coming to get you, and how you're going to meet us on the shore there. Stay alive, Neal!"

He nodded, and let go. She let go of him at the same time.

He fell into the portal and she turned her head away, tears pouring out of her eyes every single damn time. The portal flashed and then slowly faded away, leaving an empty hole in the ground where it had been.

* * *

Graham Hubbard, known as the Huntsman back in the Enchanted Forest, walked up behind the pirate known across worlds as the infamous Captain Hook. Before he spoke, he considered what was about to happen, what Emma had _repeatedly_ warned him about ever since she snuck him his heart from the Evil Queen's possession more than a year ago now.

This was how he died.

She'd explained to him, even as she was putting his heart back where it belonged, (and forever claiming it as her own, whether she knew it or not), about how time was looping, the Curse Henry talked about was real, magic was real, and that she knew he'd move off and live in the woods because she'd snuck his heart back to him, rather than having Regina hand it over willingly. It was actually kind of scary how accurate her predictions came true. Even though he knew what it would lead to, he just couldn't stand being under Regina's thumb any longer than he already had. Maybe if she had given him back his heart of her own free will, he'd feel differently, but the facts remained, the Savior had to get him his heart without the Queen… the Mayor knowing about it, which meant-in his mind-that she couldn't be trusted. Not yet at least.

So, he'd gone to live in the woods, living true to his original name as the Huntsman, living off the land. He stayed close to town though, keeping an eye on things, on people… on Emma and her family. The times when the heroes gathered to face off against the villains, he'd either been there, or supporting them from the outside. When Cora and Hook had shown up, he'd seen their arrival and knew precisely where the Jolly Roger was docked. He'd gotten Archie out as soon as he could, but unfortunately the cricket turned man had been given a horrid beating, not to mention pronounced dead.

Graham had kept an eye on Hook after that, trusting Emma when she said, (and proved how), that she could handle Cora, yet admitted to a bit of a blindspot when it came to Hook. He'd watched, and warned them all, when the pirate went down into the catacombs and came up with the Self Destruct Diamond. How he'd chased after Gold with a gun. He hadn't been able to do much for Belle at the time, but managed to keep her calm until her 'Lacey' memories resurfaced. The deadly combo of a Lacey-influenced Gold distracted him for quite a bit, enough that he'd let Hook slip past him a couple times. During one of those times, the Tamara bitch had gotten her hands on Henry. Which lead him to this moment.

Hook had to know where Tamara was, and he'd find out, no matter what happened.

Graham stepped out from behind the wall, cocked his gun, and put it against the back of Hook's head. The one-handed pirate stopped, raised both arms in surrender, and cursed out loud, "Bugger."

"Where's the boy?" the Huntsman demanded.

"I've no idea what you're on about, mate," Hook replied, slowly turning around. "Ah, the Huntsman. Yet another of the doers of the Evil Queen's dirty work. We should start a club or something."

"I don't work for that… for her, anymore," Graham insisted, seething with barely contained anger.

"Aye, I can see that," Hook acknowledged. "Neither do I, if that makes any difference."

"Where," Graham repeated slowly, "Is. The boy?"

"And to which lad are we referring?" Hook asked with a grin.

Graham adjusted his grip and reinforced the fact that the gun was cocked and loaded with safeties off. "Henry."

"Has something happened to him?" Hook asked, all joviality gone from him, he even dropped his hands.

"Don't play innocent," Graham snapped at him. "I've been watching. You've been colluding with the strangers. They grabbed Henry while Emma was dealing with the Self Destruct. You know where he is. You're going to tell me, or else."

Hook frowned, actually taking half a step closer to the business end of the gun. "I _went_ to Emma and the rest when those two triggered the bloody thing! I want my vengeance on the Crocodile, make no mistake about that. I just don't want to have to die to get it. Like I told the Savior not too long ago, staring death in the face has made me realize if there's one thing I want more than my revenge, it's my life."

"Convenient," the Huntsman growled. "Now, where is Henry?"

"I don't know," Hook shook his head. "I parted ways from that pair after they unleashed that destruction upon us all. I had no clue they'd taken the boy, and I have no idea where he might be now! I swear it! My word is my bond!"

"I don't believe you," Graham said, now holding the gun with both hands.

"You don't want to do this mate," Hook warned him. "The most dangerous thing on the high seas, after the sea herself, is a pirate with his back against the wall."

No more words were said as the two alpha males stared each other down. Thoughts raced through their heads. Mostly Emma's words to each of them. For Graham, it was her warning of his death and to stay away from any fight with Killian Jones. For Hook, it was all her talk about how he was a villain not because of his actions, but because of his refusal to look at other options. If either man had been Awake, knowing the consequences of actions, seeing the same thing happen again and again, they might make different decisions, choose another way.

But they weren't, and no matter Emma's words to them, their pride wouldn't let them back down.

Hook moved.

Graham fired, and missed.

They grappled and fought.

The gun went off several more times, not hitting anything but the ceiling.

They wrestled down to the ground, getting in as many hits as they each could.

There was a sudden flash of movement and a wet crunch sound.

They stopped moving.

Killian Jones stood up, his hook covered in blood and gore up past the wrist.

Graham Hubbard lay dead on the ground, gutted.

The dark-haired pirate stared down at the man he'd just killed, going back and forth between the body and the instrument of its death.

Emma ran in, gasping for breath, and came up short.

"No," she cried, tears pooling in her eyes. "Damnit, why am I always too late?"

Then she turned her rage upon the pirate, and snarled at him, "Why couldn't you have just _listened_? There was another way, Hook! There's _always_ another way!"

"Swan… I…" he didn't know what to say.

"Go make peace with your brother," she said to him, picking up Graham's gun and then shooting the man she loved in the face. She only did that because he asked her to, as she usually just slapped him and didn't talk to him for the rest of 'eternity'. He tended to beg her to just shoot him in the face, as it was less painful for him than the very thorough Silent Treatment she gave him for killing the Huntsman.

This was why they never dated when she snuck Graham his heart back.

* * *

Felix, the Lost Boy, sent by Pan after Greg left and Tamara was cut loose, cradled Henry over his shoulder as he raced away from the heroes chasing after him. Smirking, he held up his way back to Neverland and tossed it into the water below.

"He's got a magic bean!" Regina cried out.

"HENRY!" Emma shouted, running faster. Never fast enough.

The Lost Boy and his unconscious burden disappeared over the edge of the cliff. Emma and Regina got there just in time to see both figures vanish into the swirling magic energy and the portal vanish before they could even think of following.

"Henry!" David and Snow call out together, only coming up behind the two mothers after the boys were gone.

"No! No! No! Damnit! Not again! We have to follow them!" Emma shouted, kicking at the ground, on the verge of throwing things like a kid having a tantrum.

"Not only do we not know where they went, but Hook stole the last bean!" Regina pointed out, no happier than her co-mother.

"I cannot tell you how much I do not care, Regina," the blond snapped.

"Without it, there's no way to follow," she logically pointed out.

"There's always a way," Emma stated firmly, believing and knowing. "We can't just let them take Henry!"

"They've taken Henry?" Gold asked, dismayed as he and Belle walked up.

Emma stopped and turned to stare at the horizon while the others all demanded that the Dark One do something to save his grandson. Meanwhile, she was searching the waters around Storybrooke and only spotted it at the same moment Belle asked, "What is that?"

"Hook," she stated with a sigh of relief. If anybody dare called it 'the sigh of a lovesick princess', she'd deny it, after punching them in the face and beating them to the ground.

"What the hell took you so long?" she asked of him, tempted to go up and hug the soon-to-be-if-not-now heroic pirate.

"I'm helping," he replied with a shrug. "Be glad it's happening at all, Love."

"Well, you're too late," Regina scowled, arms crossed.

"Am I?" he asked.

"I thought you didn't care about anyone but yourself," David asked.

Holding out the bean and handing it to Emma, he replied, "Maybe I just needed reminding that I could."

"Enough waiting around," Regina insisted, impatient, "Let's go!"

"Go? Where? I thought we were saving the town," Hook asked, thinking he'd been pulling in to take out refugees and the sort.

"We need to get Henry," Emma said in a rush.

"We already did," David said.

"Well, Emma did," Snow pointed out.

"Yes, and how exactly did she accomplish that, by the way?" Gold asked, curious.

"Regina showed me how," the blond answered cryptically.

"I did no such thing!" Regina exclaimed. "I was trying to slow it down. What you did… you went right up to it, flooded the thing with so much power I'm _still_ seeing spots, and obliterated the diamond just like that!"

"Yep," Emma nodded, boarding the boat, saying, "Just like you showed me."

"Well," Hook shrugged and gallantly gestured, however belated, towards his vessel the Jolly Roger, "I offer my ship and my services to help follow them."

"Well, let's do it," Snow agreed, jumping aboard the ship after her daughter and step-mother.

"How are we supposed to track them anyway?" Regina asked the group as a whole.

"Leave that to me," said Gold.

"Don't bother," Emma said, shooting the Dark One a dangerous look. "We both know exactly where Henry is. It's a place you're all too familiar with, Hook."

Gold's eyebrows went up far enough to touch his hairline, and out of the whole gathering, only Emma and Belle knew that he was absolutely terrified in that moment. The blond had to give him credit that he still ended up coming with them. He was braver than many gave him credit for, it just showed up rather inconsistently.

While Gold and Belle were having their tender goodbyes, Emma turned to square things with Hook and Regina real quick,

"So," she began. "To recap, Henry's been kidnapped. By Peter Pan. When I came to town, you hated my guts. I became a deputy, your boyfriend broke up with you, quit his job after our little face-to-face at your father's grave, letting me become Sheriff. Your mother comes to town, kills your boyfriend. Again. And you help us stop her, by killing her yourself. And I move in with you and Henry, rather than Henry moving in with me and my parents."

She turned to Hook, "And you're doing this because we've been flirting since page one of our meeting in the Enchanted Forest, where you helped 'save me' from an ogre, and I've been talking at you non-stop about finding better ways of dealing with problems. Like revenge. As for the rest of the crew, Henry is their grandson. Everybody clear on their motivations and reasons?"

"The re-visitation of past hurts was unnecessary, Sheriff Swan," Regina stated. "But it is good to know where everyone stands."

"Good," she nodded. "Because my reasons are to rescue our son, and to put that bastard Pan in the ground once and for all."

Everyone shot her a shocked look, but it was soon forgotten as Rumpelstiltskin and Captain Hook faced off by the helm of the ship.

"So," Gold asked, "are you done trying to kill me?"

"I believe so," the pirate admitted.

"Excellent," the Dark One grinned. "Then you can live."

"What's our heading?" Hook asked as they pulled out into open waters. "Just so everyone is on the same page."

Emma and Gold shot each other knowing looks. Together, they said at the same time, "Neverland."

"Bloody hell," Hook gulped, even as he opened the portal to that cursed land.

"Pretty much," the Savior agreed. "It's definitely bloodier than the actual hell."

Again, everyone shot her confused/concerned/shocked looks, but she ignored them, focusing on her son and what was to come. As they sailed over the lip of the whirlpool, she whispered, just loud enough for all of them to hear, "Don't worry Henry. We'll find you. We'll _always_ find you."

END (2 of 7)


	4. Emma's Loop 3A

Third Season

Emma hated Pan.

No, that's inaccurate. Emma Swan _**HATES**_ _Peter Pan_!

As much as the classic cartoony story versions of Captain Hook go on and on about how much he hates "Peter Pan", Emma hates the real deal _exponentially_ more!

Out of all the villains and monsters she ever faced, even the one that ultimately killed her, _Pan_ was the worst!

He was evil in a way that rivaled even Hades and all the past Dark Ones combined! He may not have been the most powerful, nor the one that was the most difficult to defeat. But he was absolute pure _evil_! And he was the most _frustrating_ of all her villains to face in these Time Loops!

When she first started looping, actually, the whole trip to Neverland, while somewhat traumatic in that she'd (temporarily) lost her son and he lay dying in her arms right next to being body-switched and everything involved with _that_ , was little more than a minor bump on the road to her eventually facing off against the Hooded Figure (the identity of whom was _still_ in flux, although about five out of ten times it tended to be Belle and Gold's son Gideon, raised by the Black Fairy, but the rest of the time it was completely random as to who). Then, as the loops progressed, and she gained more skill and knowledge, not to mention spent a few years-worth of intermittent time as the Most Powerful Dark One in History, Pan's… approach and games started to change.

Whether it was because she'd let it slip early that she was more powerful and experienced with magic than let on, or the consequences of her own actions to try and minimize future casualties, he stopped underestimating her and started to take her attempts at rescuing Henry a bit more seriously. Like that first confrontation, when they were surrounded by the Lost Boys and had to fight their way clear, (not to mention her dad getting poisoned). He used to stop the fight and let them go by challenging her to play his little game. He didn't do that every time anymore.

When they 'tried to cheat' using a locator spell rather than crack the code of the map he'd given her, the consequences were instantly lethal for at least one member of their party, usually Hook, rather than the clear warning they got that first time.

By the point that she was spending her 'magic lessons' with Ingrid, Lily and Regina inventing new spells rather than learning control and learning the spells they had to offer, her Loops began to get cut short. That time she shot herself because Regina wouldn't listen? That was after a rather brutal defeat at the hands of Pan and his Lost Boys. They couldn't get to Henry in time and needless to say, Pan won. Luckily, time reset, but it had left her frustrated beyond measure, so the refreshed setback with Regina at the time had been just too much.

She hated having smart bad guys to contend with. Especially ones that were as evil and uncaring as Pan was. If he could be reasoned with, or just had a good enough reason for being the way he was, she might actually be able to sympathize with him. But he was just a sick old man, obsessed with staying young and powerful and ruling his own slice of the world however he wanted, damning the consequences.

At least with Regina, Zelena, Ingrid, even the Author, Isaac Heller, their reasons were quite simply that they wanted to be _Happy_. Which, honestly, is all that _anybody_ wanted. They just saw no other options beyond the evil paths laid out before them.

Nevertheless, as much as she hated the monster and facing off against him, she had yet to find a way of avoiding Neverland, and to get to what followed meant defeating the boy-man and saving Henry. And then…

Emma closed her eyes as she held on while the Jolly Roger traversed the portal. Within moments, the ship erupted up out of the still waters of the night-covered Neverland. The Savior sighed and looked at the beautiful island and starscape with a mournful air. After they were done here, another challenge still lay before her.

New York.

* * *

First challenge they _always_ faced upon arriving in Neverland; the Mermaid.

If Regina didn't automatically kill her during this, Emma would have happily turned the fish-bitch over to Ursula when they finally made friends with the Princess of the Seas. Quite frankly, she'd probably kill the mermaid herself, but Regina always beat her to the punch. The storm wasn't exactly pleasant, after all.

The first part of the voyage was mostly quiet, Rumpelstiltskin getting ready in his own way, while the rest did the same, whether through doing exercise, bolstering each other with hopeful words, or resolving lingering doubts with the only other person on board she could relate to. For Emma, the first few loops anyway, she continued to use the time to exercise and warm-up and all that. Later on, she started practicing her magic as much as she could. Now... now she was doing something else.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Regina shouted as David and Snow went back and forth with the wheel as the ship banged and rocked.

"Trying to keep it steady," Snow said as they continued to struggle.

"Hold on!" David shouts as the ship suddenly swerves from some impact.

Hook races toward them from where he'd been down below, grabbing the wheel and helping to keep the ship on course. He shouted, "Prepare for attack!"

"Be more specific," Regina demanded.

"If you've got a weapon, then grab it," he sarcastically retorted, before another large impact knocks him loose and he's thrown to the deck.

Screeching noises surround the ship, sowing unease amidst the few-numbered crew.

"What's out there?" Snow asked. "A serpent? A whale?"

"A kraken?" David suggests, worried.

"Worse," Hook says as he looks overboard and confirms the sound is coming from beneath the waves. He turns and looks back at his current crew, and tells them, "Mermaids."

"Mermaids?!" David exclaimed, having never had the pleasure, but had heard plenty of stories, both good and bad.

"Yes, and they're quite unpleasant," Hook responded, back at the helm.

"You think?" Regina said sarcastically, as yet another emerged from the water only to slap the hull with her tail.

"I'll try and outrun them," the captain replied, using every trick he could think of to give his ship more speed.

"How many of them are there?" Snow asked. The response to which was several more mermaids smashing against the ship at the same time, nearly tipping the entire boat.

"I will not be capsized by _fish_!" David shouted, grabbing a spear and chain and running for the cannon bolted to the deck.

"Where's Emma?" Snow asks as she helps her husband set up for their own version of 'fishing'.

"She was below decks, last I saw her," Hook shouted back.

"She told me she was going off to think," Regina replied. "Right before the fish arrived."

"Well then," Snow handed one end of the net she was wrangling to her former step-mother, "I need your help, Regina, so thanks for the help!"

"What moronic idea have you two gotten into your idiotic heads this time?" she snapped. Holding up her end of the net, she further questioned, "What _are_ you doing?"

"Fishing," Snow replied with a mischievous smile.

David fired the cannon. Seeing an opportunity, the two dark-haired women cast out the net and got lucky, as Snow excitedly announced in the next moment. "We got one!"

"One? There are _dozens_!" Regina pointed out with a heaving grunt as they tried to hold onto the net and drag the fish-person aboard. David fired the cannon twice more before Regina finally lost all patience.

"Enough of this!" she snarled and started rapidly shooting fireballs into the school of mermaids. They quickly scatter after that. "There," Regina said, satisfied, "They're gone."

Emma was glad she wasn't on deck at that moment to pat Regina on the head in a mocking 'there, there' motion. She always got slapped when she did.

"Not all of them," Snow pointed to the net. "What about that one?"

Regina waved her hand and the bound and struggling magical creature was teleported to the middle of the deck. She was caucasian, with black curly hair, and sea-blue-green iridescent scales for her lower half. She seemed to like hemp 'fishnet' and shiny jewelry as that was all that she was wearing. The humans could only stare in amazement and fascination as she lay there, occasionally flopping as she struggled to move outside of the water.

"Get that thing off my ship!" Hook ordered, angry.

"No," Regina shook her head, smirking. "Now we have a hostage."

"I hate to say it," David said, "but I'm with Hook. Those things just tried to kill us."

"And perhaps," she suggested, "we should try to find out why."

"How?" Snow asked. "By torturing her?"

"Well, if need be," Regina shrugged. "Sure."

Unfortunately, the net brought up more than just the fish-person. She snatched up the conch-shell and blew into it, a loud sound, similar to a fog horn, echoed out across the waves. A rumble of thunder echoed back in reply.

"What the hell was that?" Regina growled, slowly lowering her hands from her ears.

"A warning," the mermaid mocked them. "Let me go… or die!"

The wind picked up and there was another crash of thunder. David loomed over the mermaid, snatching away the shell, demanding, "What is this? What did you do?!"

"Let me go," was all she would say.

"Not until you tell us," Regina sparked a fireball in front of her face, "Or we _make_ you tell us."

Snow pulled the older woman back, saying, "Threatening her isn't the way to motivate her."

"Well, I'm all out of fish food," Regina snarked back.

"Doesn't matter if you get her to talk," Hook said from the helm. "You can't trust her. Mermaids are liars."

"Maybe they're just scared of Pan. If we let her go, maybe they'll be on our side," Snow suggested.

"Or maybe her and her friends will come right back to kill us," Regina argued.

"Oh, I don't need my friends to kill you. You'll kill yourselves. Now let me go," said the mermaid with a mocking smirk.

The wind and thunder hand turned into a full-on squall, surrounding the vessel. Its sudden appearance could only lead them to one conclusion.

"What the hell?!" David shouted as the rain and lightning poured down.

"It's a storm!" Hook shouted. "She called it. Don't let her go. She'll swim off and leave us all to die. At least with her, we've got leverage."

David grabs a sword and holds it to the mermaid's neck. "Stop the storm, then we let you go." He comes around behind the mermaid and hold it lower down her neck.

"That's more like it, Charming," said Regina, relishing the dark side. "Filet the bitch."

Startled by more than just the Evil Queen's words, he pulled back, saying, "No!" He fully removed the sword and stood back and away from the mermaid. "We are not barbarians!"

"What we're going to be is _dead_!" Regina shouted back at him, frustrated.

"Hold on! I'm gonna turn around," Hook says as he leaned hard to starboard. "I've outrun many a storm… What the devil?!" The ship, seemingly of its own accord, resumed its course for the island, and every attempt Hook made to change it and head away from the storm, the ship automatically reversed.

Unaware of this, the trio of Snow White, Prince Charming and the Evil Queen continued their fight over the mermaid, who was grinning wickedly at the display.

"Make it stop, or die!" Regina threatened her.

"We are _not_ killers!" Snow insisted.

"Yes, you are," the mermaid countered. "And you brought this death upon yourselves."

"This is why we should free her!" Snow argued.

"That feel-good nonsense, Snow, might play in the Enchanted Forest, but this…" the semi-reformed Evil Queen shot her former adversary a dark look, "This is Neverland."

The ship suddenly tilted to one side, and then the other. David ran back to help Hook with the helm, shouting at him, "Keep your grip, pirate!"

"It wasn't me, mate!" the captain shouted out. "It was the ship! We're taking on water!"

" _Now_ may I resume killing her?" Regina redundantly retorted.

" _No_!" Snow and Charming both shouted together.

"You kill her, and her kind will have a personal vendetta on us," Snow pointed out.

"The queen is right," Hook added his two pence. "They've already tried killing us."

There was a beat, and everyone briefly wondered where Emma was in all this, before Regina just nodded, saying, "Exactly." Then she waves her hands over their captive and turns the mermaid into wood, a fitting ornament for the front of the ship, she privately thinks.

"There," she stated. "That should stop the storm."

"Regina!" Snow screamed. "What did you do?!"

The storm actually gets worse around them, and a huge wave looms high over the ship, illuminated by multiple simultaneous lightning strikes.

"No!" she screams out in denial, so certain that her actions should have worked.

"What have you done?!" David yelled at her.

The ship, fortunately, ascends the wave and crests the other side, rather than being deluged with the whole thing outright. Everyone… most everyone, gets soaked. Hook keeps trying to get the ship _away_ from the storm, but all of a sudden every direction looks worse, so he stops fighting it and just tries to keep her afloat long enough to get to shore.

"I thought you said you could outrun a storm," David yelled at the pirate next.

"This isn't a storm, it's bloody damnation!" Hook cursed, struggling more than ever.

"Why would you do this?" Snow screamed at the Queen.

"You're going to blame me?" Regina actually sounded hurt at the accusation. Though not necessarily surprised by it.

"You turned the mermaid into wood!" Snow pointed out with a flat stare.

"I did something about it, which is more than you can say," Regina defended herself.

"Undo your spell," Snow demanded. "Bring back the mermaid."

"And what? You'll win her over with your rainbow kisses and unicorn stickers?" Emma almost laughed out loud at that, but she was distracted with something of far greater importance than appreciating Regina's wit. And considering her opinion _of_ the woman, that says something about just _how_ important that 'distraction' was.

"Considering that your plan failed, at least we can try," Snow argued.

"Such a naive princess," the Evil Queen snarled.

"And you're such a…" Snow White's temper finally boiled over, in more ways than one, and she lashed out with a solid blow on her evil stepmother's face.

"That your best?" Regina mocked her, rubbing her jaw.

"Not even close," Snow promised. "I'm so tired of you ruining my life!"

" _I_ ruined _your_ life?!" Regina's ire raised even higher.

"Hey!" David shouted, trying to get them to stop fighting long enough for them to get out of the situation alive. Rather than diffuse the situation, it seemed to serve as the starting round bell, as the two engaged in a full-on cat-fight.

"Hey," Hook held him back from intervening. "Let the slags go. I need you at the mast."

"Don't call my wife a slag!" David roared as he started whaling on the captain, who duly defended himself.

Meanwhile, during all of this, sitting serenely at the top of the ship's mast in the crow's nest, Emma Swan sat, meditating. For the strangest reason, if one could apply reason to a force of nature, the storm seemed calm in the area immediately around the savior. She hadn't even been soaked from the massive wave from earlier, and the rain had yet to touch her. Of course that could be that she wasn't 'getting heated' from fighting with the others and instead 'staying cool' and calm. In actuality, it had more to do with what she'd uncovered while meditating.

Normally, Emma Swan was the _last_ person that you would ever find meditating, unless you counted sleeping in general. But then again, once upon a time, she would've been the last to ever admit that fairy tales were real, that magic was real, that she could do magic, or that it was possible for time to go in a loop. And yet, here we are.

One of the more advanced magical exercises, which Ingrid, Jefferson, and Regina had instructed her in during her early-loop-tutoring sessions, was the task of using magic to map out an area. Of course, that meant more than just saying 'river over there, mountain here, trees all around'. It meant knowing _precisely_ where everything was in relation to various wellsprings of magical energy. In Storybrooke, where she practiced this skill the most, and where the only thing to change around was where the magical _people_ were at any given moment, she could identify exactly when she was in the timeline by the level of magic and which areas had more magic than others. For example, there was the Magic Well, which remained magical even _before_ magic was returned to Storybrooke, the Fairy Dust Mines, the Magic Bean Fields, and after Henry accidentally took magic out into the real world, and then brought it back, things kind of got cock-eyed and the Clock Tower became some kind of magical nexus for a while, to say nothing of all the other hotspots throughout town.

What she was doing now, had been doing for a number of Loops, and would undoubtedly continue doing for quite a number still, was doing the same thing to Neverland; she was trying to map out everything and everyone on Neverland with magic. After all, legend had it that Pan and his forces are in tune with every grain of sand on the island. Emma wanted that home field advantage for herself. Even if it took her a million tries to get it.

* * *

"Get that thing off my ship!" Hook ordered, angry.

"No," Regina shook her head, smirking. "Now we have a hostage."

"I hate to say it," David said, "but I'm with Hook. Those things just tried to kill us."

"And perhaps," she suggested, "we should try to find out why."

"How?" Snow asked. "By torturing her?"

"Well, if need be," Regina shrugged. "Sure."

Unfortunately, the net brought up more than just the mermaid. She snatched up the conch-shell beside her and blew into it, a loud sound, similar to a fog horn, echoed out across the waves. A rumble of thunder echoed back in reply.

"What the hell was that?" Regina growled, slowly lowering her hands from her ears.

"A warning," the mermaid mocked them. "Let me go… or die!"

The wind picked up and there was another crash of thunder. Emma stepped forward and held her father from approaching. She yelled out, "Nobody move! Nobody," she looked at the rest of the crew, her voice and gaze intent, "Say. A word. Don't talk, don't speak, do not ask questions." She said this directly to her parents, before turning her attention toward the mermaid on the deck before her.

"Now that," she said in a calming tone, "was very impressive. It wasn't the shell, or the act, part of it was the sound, but most of it was you. I don't think I could have done it quite as quickly either, but then, I'm still learning."

Emma was pacing slowly, delicately around the still-flopping mermaid, who was giving the blond in a tanktop and black jeans a wary eye.

"Emma, what…?" Snow started to ask, but was silenced by her daughter pointing a 'Silence!' finger at her.

"Do," she said in that same calming tone, continuing to pace, "Not. Speak. We are all under a spell at the moment. Well, not a spell. A magical effect. Every emotional word spoken, heats up the air. We are on the ocean. Hot air, plus water, equals very, very, _very_ bad weather." At the emphasis she put into the word, the wind picked up and there was a distant rumble of thunder. They remained silent and Emma continued her slow, calm spiral around the mermaid. The wind died down, just a little, still blowing, but no longer as hard as it had started to.

"Let me go!" the mermaid insisted, flopping harder.

Emma stopped right above the mermaid's head and knelt down.

"Why did you attack this ship?" she asked, her tone and voice never raising or changing from that soothing sound she spoke in. "I mean, Captain Hook and the Jolly Roger spent _centuries_ sailing these waters. I fail to see how a mere thirty years passage would have creatures that live for _thousands_ of years could so easily forget the sight of this ship."

"You were not invited," the mermaid snarled.

"Oh," Emma moved around so that she straddled the mermaid's human half with her own, so they were face-to-face, "but we were. When the creature calling himself Peter Pan kidnapped my son," there was a blaze of lightning across the sky, the thunder deafening, "he invited my wrath. And therefore me and my family. You just had to get in the way though," Emma gently caressed the black-haired sea-woman's face, "didn't you?"

Hook, with a perfect view of the Savior arched over the half-naked mermaid, audibly gulped, loud enough that they all could hear it. Both her parents also opened their mouths to no doubt protest, while Regina uncrossed and recrossed her arms with her brow raised.

"Nobody speak," Emma preempted them, keeping her face mere inches from their captive's. "Hook, for the safety of the ship, close your eyes or look away. Mom, Dad, turn around so you don't have to watch this. Regina, pay close attention." The blond raised her head to stare into the brunette's brown eyes. "You might learn something about how to conduct an interrogation."

"Let me go," the mermaid begged. "I don't know anything. Just… let me go!"

"The magical effect only lasts an hour," Emma looked back down at her prisoner. "And she knows that if the storm isn't started soon, even if we start killing each other and having heated debates, it won't be enough to destroy the ship. We'll be to the island long before then, and Pan doesn't allow storms to touch his shores."

The mermaid was more than just nervous by this point. Especially with Emma caressing her face and hair the way she was.

"I'm going to ask you some questions," the blond told her. "You will not be harmed. And after I have my answers, which I will be getting, I'll put you back in the water myself. Do you believe me?"

"No," the mermaid shook her head. "I think you're going to kill me! Just… let me go! Please!"

"See, an answer already," Emma smiled and then leaned down closer, close enough that their chests were touching, though their faces weren't quite yet.

"It doesn't matter if you believe me or not. Once I have what I need from you, you are no longer of use. And quite honestly, whether you believe it or not, it's less of a hassle throwing you overboard than it would be to kill you. Because once you're dead, we'd still have to deal with your body."

She adjusted her position, just enough so that both of them were more or less comfortable, and they were close enough that most of that they could see was each other's eyes. The mermaid wasn't nervous any longer. She was outright terrified.

"Yes or no, do you work for Pan?"

"Yes, I do and he'll…"

"Just one word answers please," Emma interrupted her. "Making threats and telling more lies won't make this go any faster. Longer we're here, longer you're out of the water. Did Pan send the mermaids out to intercept the ship?"

"Yes, he knew it the moment you arrived. Pan is…"

"Is all powerful, never fails, blah, blah, blah. Do you have a favorite food?"

The mermaid blinked in confusion. "What does that have to do with…?"

"Please answer the question," Emma's gaze never shifted. Come to think of it, the mermaid realized, she hadn't even _blinked_ , not once. "Do you have a favorite food?"

"Uh… yes?"

"Do you eat fish?"

Grimacing in disgust, while rolling her eyes, she scoffed and shook her head. "No."

"Do you like eating squid?"

"No."

"Do you eat eel?"

"No."

"Do you eat humans?"

Smirk. "Yes."

"Do you eat men?"

"Yes."

"Do you eat women?"

Licked lips. "Yes," she said with a purr.

"Do you eat children, girls or boys?"

"Yes. B-both."

"Do you count the stars?"

"What, I… uh, no. Why does that…?"

"Does Pan know we're here?"

"... Yes. He does."

"Does the Shadow still come and go?"

"Yes."

"Does the sun rise in the morning?"

"It hasn't dawned here in ages."

"Does the moon still rise?"

"No."

"Do you like children?"

"... To eat, yes!"

"Do you like girls?"

"Yes."

"Do you like boys?"

"..."

"Do you like boys?"

"... no."

"Are there such things as mer _men_?"

"Yes."

"Is there a way out of Neverland?"

"No."

Emma sat up suddenly. She asked again, "Is there a way out of Neverland?"

The mermaid frowned, wondering why she was doing this. "No," she replied again.

"Is there a way out of Neverland that Pan doesn't know anything about?"

"No," she insisted.

"Can this way be used by anyone?"

"No, I mean… No, because there isn't anyway out of Neverland! Everyone is…"

"Can this way be used by mermaids?"

"Yes… No, I… stop it! Let me go!"

"Is this way Pan's shadow?"

"Let me go!" the mermaid was struggling now.

"Is there some _other_ way out of Neverland?"

"No!"

"Is this way a magic bean?"

"No!"

"Is there a portal out of Neverland?"

"NO!"

"Do you know where this portal is?"

"No!"

"Huh. Is the portal on the island?"

"No!"

"Is the portal in the sea?"

"No!"

"Is the portal in the sky?"

"NO! Let me go!"

"Do you know where Pan is right now?"

The mermaid stilled and stopped talking altogether, petrified with fear.

"Do you know what he's going to do to you, and your kind, for what you've just revealed?" Emma whispered, her voice finally raising from that same calm soothing tone she'd been speaking in so far. "Do you have _any_ idea what he'll do to you? Can you even _fathom_ what he'll come up with to _punish_ you and all your kind for this?! DO YOU?!"

The storm broke overhead, but there was no rain, just heavy winds and near constant lightning and thunder.

The mermaid would've pissed herself if she had the natural responses to do so. But fish express fear in different ways than humans.

Emma waved her hands and the mermaid vanished in a cloud of smoke. There was a splash from over the side of the ship. She stood up and said to Regina, once more in that soothing tone, "And that is how you interrogate someone."

* * *

"Wait, is that… _Ariel_?!" Snow cried out upon seeing the mermaid Regina had teleported onto the deck. "Oh my god, I am _so_ sorry about that, we just…"

"Wait," Emma stopped her mother. "Ariel as in, 'Little Mermaid' Ariel? You know her?"

The mute redhead on the deck shot the blond a confused glance, after which said blond gave her a 'look' back, coupled with fingers over her lips. Yeah, they knew each other. Ariel, after all, hadn't been anywhere _near_ Neverland before Regina called for her in the baseline. No reason for that to have changed during the Loops. Actually, Emma had summoned Ariel to Storybrooke during one of the 'Deputy's' days off, explained the situation, and even reversed Regina's curse on the poor girl. However, a major step in Regina's redemption was that she had the opportunity to do so, she make amends. Such as reversing her curse on Ariel and providing her with her 'Happy Ending', IE permanent legs so she can be with the man she loves.

"We met years ago," Snow answered her daughter, helping Ariel out of the net. "What are you doing here, Ariel? I thought you were with Eric?"

Ariel silently shrugged, then turned to glare at the suddenly uncomfortable Mayor standing off to the side, and gestured emphatically, and somewhat rudely, at her.

"What… what happened to your voice?" Snow asked, suspicious.

Ariel repeated her rude motion at Regina. Everyone on the boat was now looking at the ex-Evil Queen, who was slowly and steadily backing away, arms crossed.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Emma surged forward and took the other woman in her arms. "What is she, er, uhm, what does she mean, Regina? Have you met this mermaid before?"

"Uh, once," the raven-haired woman was reluctant to admit, though was comforted by being in Emma's arms, obviously.

"You took her _voice_?!" Snow stood up to scream at her.

"Mom," Emma snapped at her, before turning her focus on the woman in her arms. "Regina, you maybe wanna give the mermaid her voice back. She can't really tell us anything or answer our questions, if we can't understand her."

"Right, yes, of course," the woman acknowledged guiltily. Stepping forward, she knelt down by the green-scaled mermaid and looked the redhead in the eye as she said, "I'm… sorry. I… I'm trying to be… better now." Grimacing, she cast her hand out toward Ariel's throat.

"I…" Ariel stopped and held her hand up to her throat, a smile blooming across her face. "I don't believe you. If you were ever interested in… 'being better', then you wouldn't have done what you did! And if you think this is enough to make up for what you did!"

"OK, OK, OK," Emma pulled Regina back a bit. "That was a good thing you did, Regina. Just… give her a bit of time, maybe?"

"Considering that I kept her from being together with the man she loves," Regina replied, turning away, "She's letting me off lightly."

"Thanks to you, I don't even know where he _is_ anymore!" Ariel cried out.

"Chances are that he's in Storybrooke," Charming pointed out.

"Wait, Eric's still alive?!" Ariel exclaimed.

"It's… a long story," Snow said, shooting helpless looks at the rest of the crew.

Emma shot the black-haired woman at her side a significant look, even tossing her head back at Ariel's direction. Rolling her eyes, Regina just sighed and focused on the enchanted object she'd once made a deal with the mermaid for. This time, without the red tape contract entanglements.

"This might make it easier for you," the sorceress said, conjuring up the item and transporting it to Ariel's hands.

"Is this…?" the mermaid asked, stunned. Then she looked back and forth between Snow and Regina, confused, and more than a little mistrustful. "But what about…?"

"These are legs that you have control over," Regina confirmed. "No need to… exchange roles, with anyone else. You're free to do what you wish, on land or in the sea. No price tag attached."

Snow and Charming shared in Ariel's frank disbelief and amazement at the ex-Evil Queen's generosity.

"Now will you please stop pestering me into being such a charity case, Emma!?" Regina snapped and walked off.

"It's more charity-giver, rather than charity _case_!" the blond called after her.

"Meanwhile, onto more important matters," Emma turned back to the mermaid and her parents.

"So, was that OK? Did I do it right?" Ariel asked the Savior.

"Better than I could've hoped for actually," Emma whispered back. "Thanks Ariel."

"Wait, you two know each other?" David asked, confused.

"Long story," they both replied at the same time.

"Well great, I can't wait to hear it," Snow commented. "But in the meantime, there's the more pressing issue of rescuing Henry?"

"Got them?" Emma asked rather than answer her mother.

The redhead grinned and pulled off the satchel she'd been carrying this whole time, handing it over to the tank-top-wearing blond, who grinned excitedly at receiving it. Her parents exchanged their own looks, before finally looking to their daughter and asking, "Emma, what is that? What's it for?"

"Oh, just some supplies that we didn't have time to gather before leaving," she answered. "In particular, a few… special items, which will prove useful." She pulled out Pandora's Box, a spare lighter, and a cooler that was in itself larger than the satchel it had come out of. Sticking both arms, and her head into it up to the shoulder, there was the sound of rustling and things clanging together, before she withdrew and pulled out Charming's sword and a set of modern bow and arrows for Snow.

"Just a few things then, huh?" Snow commented.

"Yeah, just a few," Emma grinned and packed most of it away before putting the satchel over her own shoulders, and then helping Ariel to her 'feet'. "Now, time to discuss how we're getting on the island…"

* * *

The quintet crew of the Jolly Roger swam ashore, having traversed the lagoon, and two miles of winding, rapid-filled river to come up on a sandy alcove, covered on three sides by rock face, and by jungle just beyond the beach. They'd left the ship anchored on the other side of a craggy skull-faced rock island, out of sight of the actual shores of Neverland proper. Emma had insisted. They'd swam rather than use the dingy, all for stealth sake.

"We don't have to do it this way," Regina gasped out as she trudged up the beach. "I can fix the Jolly Roger. My magic is powerful enough. We can execute the pirate's plan."

Emma scoffed and shook her head, saying, "Sneak attack? Let's not be naive. Save your magic. I promise you, we'll need it later, because Pan already knows we're here. See this?" she picked up a handful of sand and let it trickle out of her fingers. "Pan and his forces are connected to every grain of sand in this land. He knows _exactly_ where we are. It's time we stop running. Gold was right. This land is run on belief. All of us have been too busy being at each other's throat to be believers. I was as wrong as anyone else. It's time for all of us to believe. Not in magic, but in each other."

"You want to be friends?" the Evil Queen gave her of scoff at that. "After everything that's happened between all of us?"

Emma shook her head. "I don't want or expect that. I know there's a lot of history here, a _lot_ of hate."

"Actually, I quite fancy you from time to time," said Hook, flirting, "When you're not yelling at me that is."

"We don't need to be _friends_ ," she said. "What we need to know is that the only way to get Henry back is cooperation."

Her father shook his head, pointing at the villains, "With her? With him? No, Emma. We have to do this the right way."

"No, we don't," she argued back. "We just need to _succeed_. And the way we do that is by just being who we are—a hero, a villain, a pirate. It doesn't matter which, because we're going to need _all_ those skills, whether we can stomach them or not."

Regina shot a baleful glare at her rival and asked, "And what's your skill, 'savior'?"

"I'm a mother," she stated with a finality that none, not even Regina could argue with. "Worst of all, I am a _pissed off_ mother looking to protect her child. And now I'm also your leader. So either help me get my son back or get out of the way."

She flipped open the satchel and tossed everyone their weapons with deft and unwasted motion. Wielding her own sword, she turned to the jungle path, and started to carve her way through it. The others all silently followed after her.

* * *

There was only one way to win against Pan and save Henry. And that was to play his games, let him delay them as much as he likes, win Henry over so the boy gives up his Heart of his own free will, and nearly win only to be blindsided at the last moment. If they don't play his games, or suddenly are much closer than he likes, he moves in and kills the lot of them, save for Rumple, who he taunts with their deaths, and tricks Henry telling him the only way to save them is to give up his Heart. If Henry isn't won over, no matter what elaborate lies or tricks or all manner of circumstances Pan throws at him, he loses patience and accepts a 'lesser boost' by taking the Heart of the Truest Believer by force. It only grants him an extra century or two, rather than sustaining him throughout the rest of eternity, but even Pan's patience has its limits. In either case, he'll just take the rescuers hostage and kill them or _nearly_ kill them so that Henry still gives up his Heart of "his own free will".

 _IF_ , however, they get to the Tree of Regret soon enough, which they almost always do, Pan never sees the blind side coming, no matter what happened before. With the Heart of the Truest Believer beating in his chest, Pan is so confident of victory that he never even considers that there might actually be adults without regret, and thus unable to be trapped by his Tree.

But, there were a _lot_ of hurdles between arriving on Neverland's shores and the confrontation at the Tree of Regret. Number one of which was their first 'night' on Neverland. Which is ironic, because for the past ten to fifteen years, give or take, the sun has not once risen above Neverland's horizon.

"The ridge is just a few hundred paces up ahead," Hook said as he lead them through the jungle's undergrowth.

"And we'll be able to see the whole island from there?" Emma confirmed.

"Aye," Hook agreed. "From there we should be able to see everything, including where he's keeping your son."

"You know I could have just teleported us up there," Regina sourly remarked.

"Where?" Hook confronted her. "Have you any idea what's up here or anywhere? There are dangers all about. Only _I_ can guide us _past_ them."

"He's right," Emma stated, knowing that if she didn't resentment would just grow between everyone. "Hook's lived here before. He knows the lay of the land and some of what to expect. It's an asset we can't afford to ignore."

It was a bit more long-winded than what she usually said, but it tended to make everyone acknowledge her abilities as a leader that much sooner.

They made it past the nightshade thorns and ultimately up to the top of the ridge. Unfortunately it was also where Emma and Hook often encountered the same problem.

"Pan's lair should be just… uh… right…" Hook trailed off as they looked over the massive, dark, and forbidding jungle that could give African Rain Forests a run for their money.

"Where?" Regina asked, throwing up her hands in frustration. "All I see is jungle!"

"Aye, the Dark Jungle," said Hook, pulling out his telescope and sweeping the mass of dark green below them with it. "It's, uh, grown so much since I last set foot in Neverland."

"So this nature hike was for nothing!" Regina sighed and went to sit down on a rock.

Before either of her parents could say anything, whether to admonish the villains or to wax poetic about hope, Emma stepped up to the edge of the ridge herself and started turning her head every which way, trying to take in the view all at once. When she stepped back, she only had one thing to say.

"Ffff- _Frak_."

"Emma?" Snow questioned, as she'd never heard her daughter _almost_ curse before. "Is something wrong? What is it?"

Shaking her head, Emma let out a similar sigh of frustration as Regina had. "Nothing. It's nothing. Just… it's all _different_! Couldn't this place stay the same just _once_?"

"I… don't understand…" the pale brunette muttered.

"I need to meditate," Emma pronounced. "Everybody get some sleep. I… _we_ need to figure out where Henry is before we go charging off into the jungle after him." She said this mostly for Regina's benefit. "Please don't disturb me for at least six hours."

She only really needed two in order to fully map Neverland's magic hotspots, but she wanted to try and 'track' the magic that moved, see if she could predict it. It was something she _still_ worked on every time she came to Neverland.

Of course, about halfway through her meditations, while everyone was fast asleep, dead to the world, Peter Pan himself showed up, announcing himself with the sounds of crying children, though he claimed he couldn't hear them. Then, after Emma threatened him, he presented her with the map, and challenged her to a game.

The interesting part came in that if she 'won' quick enough, he just changed the rules and added whole new games, everything from a scavenger hunt, to rescuing Neal from the Cave of Echoes all over again. Not that that didn't happen anyway.

What was more interesting was that if they _didn't_ cheat and use the Locator Spell on the map, then Pan did that changing rules/new games thing anyway. Of course, this was also the fight where her father got poisoned and risked being trapped in Neverland after taking the cure. It's also why she included body armor for all of them in that satchel of supplies she had.

* * *

"No one's here," Snow observed as they entered the campsite Pan's parchment had lead them to via the locator spell. "Maybe your spell was wrong, Regina."

"Yes," Regina rolled her eyes. "Blame me… again."

Emma saw him, sitting there, _in Henry's jacket_! But she didn't say anything. Instead, she stepped out into the open to allow herself as much room to fight as possible, and drew her sword while charging up her other hand with magic.

"It's a trap," she announced.

"Of course it's a trap!" the boy wearing Henry's clothes called out, standing up, and turning around to reveal Pan standing there with that insufferable smirk of his. "Hi Emma!"

"Where the hell is Henry?" she shouted at him. She briefly lost control and there was a brief spark of energy over her golden blond hair, as her blue eyes flickered briefly to a solid sea-green-blue-turquoise color before reverting.

"You broke the rules," Pan admonished her. "That's not fair. Bad form. I expect more from _you_ , Captain."

"Aye," the pirate replied, readying his own weapon, "And you'll get it."

"Give us Henry," Emma demanded, the magic in her fist snapping dangerously, like an exposed wire too close to the water.

"Sorry. Can't. Don't you know?" Pan laughed as his forces, all the Lost Boys, surrounded them. "Cheaters never win."

"Watch out for their arrows," Hook warned his crew. "They're laced with dreamshade."

"Everybody get around me now," Emma commanded, and then unleashed the magic she'd been building up all this time at the same moment that the Lost Boys unleashed their poisoned arrows. Only to find them stuck in mid-air, impacting and freezing on the spot where they touched the magical barrier Emma had erected around the group.

"News flash for you, Pan!" the Savior called out. "Little something I've learned over the years. If you're not _cheating_ ," she ignited the barrier, over charging it to the point that it exploded outwards in a wave of raw power, knocking out the nearest boys, and sending the rest to the dirt, "you're not _trying_! Now, give me back my son!"

Pan had vanished into the night. He also never confronted Emma alone ever again, afraid of the power she wielded. He also held onto Neal, refusing to let his grandson go, feeling that he'd need a hostage. So it was just Emma and Hook alone that went to get the Shadow, on top of Regina going off on her own at some point and Pan capturing her as well. Henry still got tricked, and it was only Emma going straight to the Tree from freeing Regina and Neal both that won them the day, though it was _far_ too close for the Savior's liking. On top of that, he _still_ managed to switch bodies with Henry!

* * *

They were back up on the ridge, having just arrived on the island.

"Pan's lair should be just… uh… right…" Hook trailed off as they looked over the massive, dark, and forbidding jungle that could give African Rain Forests a run for their money.

"Where?" Regina asked, throwing up her hands in frustration. "All I see is jungle!"

"Aye, the Dark Jungle," said Hook, pulling out his telescope and sweeping the mass of dark green below them with it. "It's, uh, grown so much since I last set foot in Neverland."

"So this nature hike was for nothing!" Regina sighed and went to sit down on a rock.

"Nope," Emma stated, already pulling out the ingredients she'd need from the satchel. "It got us the perfect vantage point for seeing most of the island. Here's hoping this works. Regina, need your help with this. Hook, there is about to be a light shining somewhere down in that forest. I need you to start planning out the _fastest_ , not necessarily the safest route down from here to wherever that light may be. Mom, Dad, put your sunglasses on."

"Sunglasses at night?" David asked, confused.

"How… how did you come up with this spell, Ms… Emma?" Regina asked, staring in open shock at what she was working with.

"Oh, y'know, tutoring sessions," she said without meeting the Mayor's eyes. "With, y'know, Jefferson and Lily and Ingrid and… y'know… you..."

"Uh huh," she replied in an entirely unconvinced tone.

Actually she'd invented it, yes _invented it_ , while she was the Dark One in the previous Loop, and spent more time making the components for it less rare and less complicated than she did in actually freeing Excalibur from the stone, so she'd ended up doing things the same out of habit more than anything else.

"OK, ready? Everybody ready?" Emma called out. "Here we go then."

She and Regina cast the spell in unison. A blast of white and red light shot up into the sky. Right as it reached the apex, Emma quickly covered hers and Regina's eyes. The ball of magical light exploded and it was like the sun in the sky! So much so that the stars briefly vanished and it was blue skies and white clouds all around. About fifteen seconds or so after it burning bright like that, the light dimmed and started to fall back down to the ground. With the sudden reemergence of the night sky, it appeared all the more like the proverbial shooting star. And then, where he was surrounded by all the Lost Boys, staring up in wonder along with the rest of them, the light struck and surrounded Henry Mills. Rather than harm him, all it did was making him light up like the sun that had been in the sky moments before.

"Way to go Moms," Henry commented, looking down at himself.

"Let's move!" Emma yelled as they could all see the brightly shining point on the ground.

Pan realized what was going on instantly. He managed to block Henry's 'light' for a while, but then Emma pulled out another way to track Henry directly, and so he ended up taking Henry's Heart unwillingly, and they barely got it back in time. What followed that victory, however, was worse than if Pan's version of the Dark Curse actually did come about.

Henry remained in a coma for the rest of that Loop, and when Zelena showed up, it wasn't to gather components for a time travel portal, it was just to outright kill Regina. She came closer than anyone ever had actually, but while it wasn't close enough to kill the woman, she was paralyzed, both magically and physically. Regina spent the rest of that Loop in a wheelchair. And then Isaac, the Evil Author, _somehow_ escaped the book, despite nobody actually looking for him or trying to free him at the time, and Emma _still_ ended up becoming the Dark One because of removing the Darkness from a dying Gold, only… without Regina or Henry, there was no freeing Merlin, no reuniting Excalibur, no vanquishing the darkness. No visiting the Underworld or the Land of Untold Stories either, but…

It was a pretty sucky loop. Emma never tried to 'find Henry early' ever again.

* * *

Of course, nobody said that the person kidnapped by Pan's forces _had_ to be Henry. They just had to _think_ that it was Henry, and be able to pass all of Pan's tests. After all, why else would Emma spend an entire loop work on improving her con artist skills if she wasn't planning on using them?

After escaping Greg and Tamara, 'Henry' was soon pursued by all the Lost Boys, only narrowly managing to avoid them thanks to another 'boy' who was on the run from them for stealing pixie dust from Pan. Only for it to turn out to be Pan himself, who all too happily revealed that fact after seeing 'Henry' succeed in using the pixie dust to fly, something that only a true believer could accomplish.

Then, after that, they spent a couple weeks playing games and earning 'Henry's trust and slowly trying to convince their abductee that 'he' was one of them. Everything from shooting at apples with bows and arrows, to rough housing swordplay. Of course, that was all just prelude to Pan's big speech about needing 'Henry' to "Save Magic!"

Ironic really.

Y'know, given what the future holds, where Henry finds the Dark Grail and thereby using it he _destroys_ magic…

Before he did that though, the insane Eternal Boy had to resort to one final trick to get Henry to willingly sacrifice himself for Pan's sake. The exact circumstances about how Henry came to find her seemed to shift with Emma's own actions against Pan, but find her he always did, and the conversation was near-identical, always driving home the same point. Wendy Darling was 'sick' and the only way to heal her was with magic. Magic that meant Henry willingly turning over his Heart to Pan.

"Who are you?" 'Henry' asked, having climbed a bamboo ladder after following the sound of weak coughing.

"You're not supposed to be here," the 'young' blond girl in a nightgown said. She had an English accent and 'he' could tell that she wasn't nearly as surprised by 'his' presence as she was supposed to be.

"I know," 'Henry' said, stepping up to the end of the bed. "I thought Pan might be keeping my family here. Wh-Why are you so far away from the camp?"

"I'm," the girl looked down and to her left before locking her eyes onto his and never wavering in her stare as she continued to speak, "I'm sick. And he's afraid someone might catch it." Wow. _Great_ actress, shitty liar.

"Who are you?" 'Henry' asked again.

"My name is Wendy," she answered.

"Wendy _Darling_?" 'he' confirmed.

The blond in the bed silently nodded her head.

Moving quickly, 'Henry' looked all around the hovel filled with all the typical furnishings of a 19th Century little girl's bedroom. Eyes narrowed at the dressing screen in the far corner, but quickly moved past it and instead hurried over to the side of the bed so as to be close to the bedridden girl as possible. Then 'Henry' pulled out a small trinket from his shirt pocket and opened it. There was a brief, muted flash of light, mostly hidden by the two children's bodies, and then Wendy and Henry's voices could be heard continuing the conversation;

"I'm Henry. What's wrong?"

"It's the island, Henry. It's power is fading. I've been her a long time, but, well, for some reason it's affecting me more than the others."

'Henry' held fingers to lips, universal sign for 'Silence!' Moments after that, 'Henry' was replaced by fully decked out and tank-top-wearing Emma Swan.

"The illusion only lasts for about three minutes, at most," she whispered urgently to the suddenly terrified Wendy. "So not a lot of time. Pan still sees you and Henry talking. I've got a proposal for you, Miss Darling. Interested?"

"You look like him," Wendy's voice could be heard saying, though the girl hadn't said anything since Emma revealed herself.

"He can't see anything?" she asked, desperate.

"We could get up, dance naked and toss the room all around him and he'd still see 'Henry' and 'Wendy' talking on the bed, convincing him to do whatever Pan wants," the adult blond confirmed.

"We have to leave then!" She insisted, tossing back the covers. "You _do_ have a way out, yes?"

"Several, but…" Emma trailed off as she helped the girl to her feet. "Like I said, illusion is only good for a couple minutes.

"Who?" the question was asked mid-air with as lengthy a pause as Emma could give it.

"He'll _kill us_!" the girl begged.

"I've got a plan," Emma told Wendy. "It just… it's a _bit_ unorthodox. And you have a part to play. Good news, your brothers are still alive, and I know where they are."

"Your father."

"Bad news," Emma transfigured Wendy's nightgown into something a bit more practical for traversing the jungles of Neverland, "They believe Pan is holding you captive and are willingly serving him. Oh, and Pan is going to know something is up if you're not still in this bed when the illusion runs out. Back to good news," she pulled out a straw and yarn doll, one ironically called Peter Pan by its original owner, "I can fix that." She then transformed the doll into a duplicate of Wendy, still in the nightgown, and back in the bed.

"Y-you… you knew my… father…?"

"We were... friends."

Wendy's brow raised at Emma, not at her doppelganger, but the illusion speech.

"What, you think it's easy making a minute-long conversation last as long as possible?" she scoffed. "Anyway, head down the ladder, then go off the path _to the right_. Felix and some of the others are to the left. Then make your way to the Hollow. Don't actually go in," she said quickly to the younger girl's horrified look. "I'll meet up with you with some of the others that are leaving with us tonight."

"A long time ago. When he was just a little older than you. He… saved my brothers from danger. I… would do… anything… for my family… *KOFF*, *KOFF*, *KOFF*!"

"How did you know what I was going to say?" Wendy whispered as they hurried over to the ladder.

"Eh," Emma shrugged. "Heard it before. Long story. May even tell it to you. Remember, to the right, then straight to the Hollow." She stopped and shook her head. Neverland was messing with her, it made practically everything she said sound like some reference to the old book this whole thing was 'based on'. Quite frankly, the Savior was pretty sure it was meant to be the other way around.

"Are you gonna be OK?"

"Wait…" Wendy stopped before actually going down, "Who are you? Why should I trust you? What makes you so much better than the last handsome face I trusted in?"

"Are you referring to Henry's father, or Pan?" Emma teased the 'younger' girl. "My name is Emma Swan. I'm Henry's mother. And… Henry hasn't actually set foot in Neverland. Yet. I disguised myself as him and let Pan's minions capture me. Now, personally, I'd love to sit down and discuss my exploits and unveil my master plan, but as you can hear," the magical conversation going on around them had reached the point where Wendy was 'begging' Henry to leave before he caught whatever illness she had, interspersed with a _whole LOT_ of coughing, "we are running short on time. Now go!" She punctuated this by making herself look like Henry and hurrying back to the bed.

There was a brief noise as Wendy scrambled down the bamboo, a moment during which the illusion was ended and 'Henry' began to slowly stand up, leaving behind the bag of supplies at the end of the bed. 'He' made his way back over to the ladder and then turned back, saying, "I'll come back for you. I promise!" and then left.

The doppelganger spell, especially one cast upon a doll, could only do so much with so little time. If she'd had a _bit_ more time, and walked in with it already transformed, she probably could have gotten it to double for Wendy in almost any situation. As it was, she had little clue as to what Wendy and Pan talked about in private, so she went with the doll being able to fully move about and give off a flawless _physical_ performance, but unable to say even one word. She kind of doubted that Pan would notice a difference.

Her plan for this loop was simple, yet complex in its intricacies. Step one, take Henry's place and ensure that he _never_ sets foot on Neverland. Step two, free the Lost Boys and Wendy by getting them out of Neverland via one of the three methods of escape; Magic Bean, Pan's Shadow, or… the Well of Miracles, the magic water that ran through _all_ of the Realms, even Storybrooke. Even Neverland.

The fact that it sprung from a cloud that was constantly hovering over the tallest peak of the island merely spoke to the bizarreness of the place, in her opinion.

Step three, destroy Pan, and his Shadow, and take the last of his magic, thereby killing him instantly. She was still working on the details behind that last step there, but she was sure something would come to her.

Eventually...

* * *

Emma Swan had been through nearly a hundred loops already, and maybe a _fifth_ of those had ended 'early', and three-quarters of _those_ had ended in Neverland. Try as she might, there just wasn't anyway that she could best Peter Pan without following the script of how things went the first time. In other words, letting Pan almost win and take Henry's heart and hang around the Tree of Regret, (which, yet again, for the record, besides the literal shape of the island, the Echo Caves, and the Dark Hollow, is the _only_ things to remain in the same place between Loops), was the only way to ultimately survive Neverland.

Only other thing to remain consistent, besides the location of the Tree of course, was that good old Rumpelstiltskin, going off on his own and doing the Dark One thing, managed to get himself trapped in Pandora's Box and placed there at the base of the tree as bait. A trap that Snow _always_ got the trio of mothers caught in.

"Careful," Regina called out as Snow stepped up to the box. "Pan wouldn't have just left it behind for no reason."

"It's David's only way home," Snow argued, as she leaned down to pick the box up. "Without Gold, we're stuck heeere—!"

Vines lashed out from the darkness and wrapped tightly around all three women, dragging them back to the trunk of the Tree.

"Are you _still_ at it?" Pan asked as he stepped out from behind. "Don't you know? Peter Pan never fails." They all gave him cold glares, not saying anything for the moment, although Emma was wracking her brain and heart for any and all traces of 'regret' that she might have and snuffing them out as fast as she could. "I didn't expect you to find me. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised. You're mothers. Quite tenacious about your offspring. Believe it or not, I understand that. But if you're looking to see Henry again, I have to tell you there is only one place you'll be reunited. In _death_."

Regina tried to lash out, but the vines held them all tight. Emma, rather than struggle, was pulling constantly, providing constant pressure against the magical plants, making sure that she gave them nothing to feed off of while steadily wearing them down.

"Having trouble moving?" Pan mocked them. "Not surprised, given where you are. D'ya see, what's hastening your demise… is your _regret_."

Knowing that she had to keep him talking, if only to keep him from noticing the vines actually straining for as long as possible, Emma asked him, "What are you talking about?"

"This tree is the site of a very important event for me," he shared. "I abandoned my boy here."

"You have a son?" Regina asked, incredulous.

"I'm older than I look," he shrugged.

"If you have a child," Emma repeated what she said every loop in this situation, just using it to stall for time, "you must regret losing him too."

"But I don't," Pan replied, walking over to the box and picking it up. "Quite the opposite actually. See, I have him all _boxed up_ , so I don't lose him again."

"Rumpelstiltskin is _your son_?!" Regina exclaimed.

"That he is," Pan confirmed.

Emma couldn't be bothered to look horrified at this (to her) very old news. Fortunately the other two captives with her were more than willing to display enough shock to satisfy Pan.

"How is that possible?" Snow asked. "You're…"

"Younger than him?" Pan finished her sentence. "Not really. Just like you and your daughter?"

"You're a fraud," Regina taunted him, drawing his attention. "Your magic has weakened. You can't even hurt us. Let alone Rumpelstiltskin!"

"You're right," he said. "But that's why I'm _here_. This tree will protect me until my power is restored. And _then_!" He held his sword out, the edge under the Evil Queen's chin. "Well, then I get to have some real fun."

"Ew," Emma grimaced as her mind interpreted his words a _very_ different way than from how they'd been intended.

"And I won't ever have to worry about my child again. Something we will all soon have in common."

Emma might have tried to lunge at him or something, just from the insinuation, but her 'regret' from how her mind worked did enough to tighten the vines on its own. She hated how literal magic got sometimes.

"I'm going to kill you Peter Pan," Emma vowed, her conviction at those words enough to vanquish that spark of regret she'd felt moments ago.

"No," he said, getting close, "You're not going to get to me. See, this Tree _attacks_ the regret inside anyone who comes here. And you? You've got plenty."

"I've been working on it," she told him. "Haven't I, Regina? Owning up to my past. Accepting the consequences and facts of what I've done. Very enlightening therapy sessions, wouldn't you say, Regina?"

"Oh, you mean the ones where I constantly belittled you and called you out on your faults and made you _regret_ ever meeting me?"

"Uh, yeah, those," Emma nodded. "Minus that last bit though."

"Therapy?" Pan laughed. "No, that's not all, is it Savior? No, I have your son's heart inside me. I can feel just how much you let him down, time and time again."

Emma frowned and tilted her head, even as Snow rose to her defense.

"Leave her alone!"

"Perhaps I should," he shifted targets. "After all, what chance did she have of being a good mother? Look at the example you set! Abandoning her for twenty-eight years!"

"Are you finished?" Regina asked, having finally figured out the trick to the tree.

Of course, Emma having finally cut the last of the vines and feeling their sudden slack probably had as much to do with it as that.

"Last words from the queen!" Pan called out. "Perhaps a deathbed confession from the one who has the most to regret of all."

"Yeah, there's one problem with that," she said, looking back and forth from the vines and Pan. "I did cast a curse that devastated an entire population. I have tortured and murdered. I've done some terrible things."

"Stop teasing him and get it over with, Regina," Emma interrupted the monologue.

"Spoil my fun," Regina pouted as all three women stepped away from the dead vines.

Emma had Pan in an arm lock and immobile before the boy could even blink. Regina stalked forward and was pulling Henry's Heart out of his chest within the next second.

"See," Emma whispered into the Eternal boy's ear, "Therapy's good for something after all. Like you said…"

"We should be overflowing with regret," Regina picked up what Emma was saying, before they finished together, "But we're not."

"Mom, the box," Emma nodded. Snow White picked it up, and was about to suggest the run off to join the others at the ship, but the two sorceresses stopped her.

"Regina, you wanna do the honors, while I hold the brat? I think you need a time-out, mister!"

"NO!" Pan shouted, struggling against her grip, but she wasn't letting go, and he was weakened from having Henry's Heart removed.

"Do we have time for this?" Snow asked.

"Considering what might happen if we just let the brat go?" Emma pointed out. "Trust me, that would be something we'd really regret."

In short order, Regina had Rumpelstiltskin released from Pandora's box, and Peter Pan thrown into it. After that, it was a short hike back to the Jolly Roger, where they reunited Henry with his golden glowing heart, and then Pan's Shadow was bound to the sail, allowing them to fly back to Storybrooke and return home. With Pan in the box already, and _not_ body-switched with Henry, Emma was ready to call this a win.

Until Felix, the Loyal Lost Boy, somehow managed to sneak away with the Box, release Peter Pan once they were in Storybrooke, and have him steal the Dark Curse and cast it anew, thereby forcing Regina to give up Emma and Henry both in order to stop it. And… New York.

Not that there was anything, necessarily, wrong with New York City, it was just…

As part of the new Curse, Regina had to rewrite both Henry's and _Emma's_ memories. And whatever was going on with the Time Loops, or whatever they were… it didn't make her immune to the Curse. So, while she still knew she was in a time loop, still had 'memories' of what was to come and what had happened and everything, it was ALL filtered through the false memories of what Regina had done to them. To save them.

So… for the next year, no magic, no Family, and no prepping for when Hook (or Red when Hook was 'dead' that Loop cause of, y'know, the Huntsman) eventually showed up. At least she 'remembered' enough about "Walsh" to know that he wasn't any good for her and could avoid him. Mostly. He _somehow_ always managed to worm his way into Cursed-Emma and Henry's lives.

On the plus side, she still remembered pretty much everything 'as it happened' from the year living in Storybrooke while it was still under the first curse. Meaning that she could remember and recall and utilize all her extra 'study time' and getting her various degrees and whatnot.

Still… _New York City_.

END (3 of 7)


	5. Interlude

Interlude:

Emma Swan woke up in her apartment, and for a brief moment was confused as to where she was. Sitting up and pushing back the snow white sheets, she looked around the spartan bedroom, moments before her alarm went off, loudly playing _Charley's Girl_ by Lou Reed. Looking down at herself and then at the time and date on her clock, she came to one inescapable conclusion.

"Damn time loop," the bounty hunter grumbled, slamming her head back on the pillow.

She didn't stay down for long, instead leaping to her feet and rushing over to her closet.

Having little to no clue as to what was behind this time loop thing she was experiencing, Emma was at least cognizant of the advantages such a phenomenon presented. For _whatever reason_ , she only had a little over a year before she'd find herself back in the bug with Henry driving down south. And then…

Well, that was the funny thing, her first memories upon time resetting was of being in the car with her son… and then… it was like she was in a fugue state or something. She was _aware_ of what was going on and what she was doing and was in control of her body and everything, but it was also like _she herself_ was stuck on a loop. Like she was the same as everybody else around her with time looping, repeating the same actions, the same words… the same _thoughts_. And then she went to bed in her apartment in New York City, after putting Henry to bed of course, and then she woke up, today, the same day, at 8:15 in the morning. And she _remembered_ , and could actually make _different_ decisions, actions, speak _different_ words and have _different_ thoughts!

Something else, which in hindsight hadn't started until her third iteration of waking up in her NY Apartment, was the note in her jacket pocket. Her red leather jacket pocket.

Reaching into the closet and finding the appropriate article, she checked every pocket in the crafted red leather item. It was, as always, in the inner left breast pocket. She imagined that the first couple times she'd 'accidentally' thrown the note away after leaving it in her side pockets, and when she wasn't 'Awake', threw the note out without thinking about it.

As always, the note contained a list of names, dates, times, and addresses. It had one more name than last loop, and the times and places had shifted around, but she recognized them all. Now if only she could remember _writing the note_!

She wasn't sure _how_ , but apparently at some point she figured out a way to leave notes for herself from loop to loop. She just wished that at least _one_ of these notes she'd been getting would explain what was going on, and why the Loop ended so soon after meeting Mr. One-Handed Smouldery Eyes Sexy Goatee Dark Leather Pirate Man. She never could remember his name, despite asking him and hearing it every time. At least she'd finally stop getting him arrested. There was that, right?

She went over the list and smiled in remembrance at her first meeting of each of these people. Although the new name confused her somewhat, she knew to be at the address at the date and time. It was disappointing, however, to see that it would be near the end of the Loop. Roughly a day before her Mystery Man knocked on her door, if she judged the date correctly.

First name on the list, oh! Yay! Carrie! And the date was today, this afternoon in fact! Which meant…

As Emma prepared for her day, she lost herself in the memory of her first _unforgettable_ time meeting NYPD Detective Carrie Wells.

It was maybe… the third or fourth loop, and she was still kind of confused about the whole thing. Although, some part of her felt like she should just say 'Screw It!' and do whatever she felt like, her responsibility toward Henry and providing for him kept her from doing anything too outrageous. On top of that was the overriding sense of needing to improve herself, to better prepare her for… _something_.

But that was all existentialist crap.

What mostly took up her day-to-day in this time loop was doing her job, taking care of Henry, and… well, studying and practicing and exercising… so basically; Living Her Life. Thanks to the time loops, doing her job got simultaneously easier, and more difficult as she went through the same events again and again. Which meant, tracking and bringing in the same perps for the bounty. Kinda helps if one could remember all the research that she'd spent weeks collecting, so she knew exactly where they were/would be ahead of time.

The difficulty came in that her bosses all noticed that she was bringing in most of her collars in a little over a day after getting the warrant for them in the first place. So, thinking that she was just 'that good', they gave her more and more and progressively more difficult collars to track down. They were doing that as soon as the second loop, by the way. It was on one of these… difficult collars when she came across Carrie Wells in one of the city's many underground gambling dens.

"Haven't seen you here before," a striking redhead in a skintight scoopneck green dress said as she sat down next to Emma at the bar, of aforementioned underground gambling den.

Looking up, surprised, the blond replied automatically, "It's actually my first time here. Not in a place like this, but… first time at _this_ one."

The redhead laughed and tucked her hair behind her ear, revealing her neck and the expensive-looking jewelry decorating it. "It shows. That you're nervous," she elaborated.

Emma smirked and shrugged. She was in a new dress that she'd gotten just for this job. While the other woman's was conforming and alluring because of all that it hid, Emma's was the standard Little Black Dress, complete with slit up the side that showed off the top of her stockings and garter with the way she was sitting. Ironically, her style of dress was intended on attracting her mark… not a potential date, or rival.

"Emma," she offered her hand, taking the bull by the horns as it were.

"Carrie," her new friend replied, shaking the offered hand. "So what brings you here? I don't think it's the gambling. You've been sitting here for the past fifteen minutes. Clocking every person that walks in the door, but never at the games or players themselves. Looking for someone?"

Emma's brow arched in obvious surprise as she spun around and adjusted herself on the stool, keeping one eye on the mirrors and other reflective surfaces her precise location afforded her, giving her a near 360 degree view of the room. "An old boyfriend," she supplied the cover she was going with for this case. "He… owes me something. And he's been ducking me. A friend of his is a regular here, so I thought I might get said friend's help in dealing with him. Haven't seen either just yet."

"Well, maybe I can help you look?" Carrie offered. "Got a picture?"

Sensing nothing but open curiosity and genuine honesty from the woman, Emma showed her the picture she had. To the blond's surprise, however, after a few seconds of her eyes losing focus Carrie informed her that the man she was looking for was right outside as of less than ten minutes ago, apparently in the middle of making some kind of deal for buying and/or winning himself a getaway vehicle. Carrie had passed him on her way in, and apparently without pausing in her stride or doing anything more than glancing at the arguing men, had noticed a pink slip for a '89 Charger, and overheard her mark saying to the other guy that he would get the money soon, but needed 'it' tonight.

With the redhead trailing along, Emma went and quickly tracked down her collar and claiming him on the spot, which is, of course, when Carrie revealed that she was a detective with the NYPD. They got together the next evening, at a different underground casino, ironically enough, and Emma Swan learned all about Carrie Wells. Or, at least as much as was possible during a single night over a game of cards.

"Seriously?" Emma exclaimed, genuinely surprised. And it took a lot to surprise her these days, what with repeating the same year over and over again. "You remember _everything_?"

"Everything that I've ever experienced," she confirmed. "It's called _hyperthymesia_. My brain is hardwired to remember _everything_. Pick any day of my life, and I can tell you what I saw or heard; faces, conversations, clues, which comes in handy when you're a cop. That way, if I miss something the first time, it's okay. I can just go back and look again."

"That's pretty cool," Emma commented, nodding along. "I've actually got something like that myself. I can tell whenever someone is lying to me. Even if they're just holding back on telling me something, and usually I can guess what that something is. Makes cutting past people's bullshit a lot easier when hunting down fugitives."

Carrie's own brow raised in appreciation, impressed. "Not bad. Could use you in interrogations some time. Ever think about becoming a cop?"

Emma grimaced and shrugged. "Can't. I've got a record. Did some time when I was younger. I was eighteen, so, stuck on my record."

"Well, if you want, I may be able to pull some strings for you," Carrie offered. "I know some people."

"Thanks," she replied, then looked back down at her cards and at the other players around the table. "So, shall we take these bozos for all their money, Carrie?"

The proverbial red fox shot her trademark grin at the Swan and answered, "I believe we shall, Emma."

They all gulped nervously, showing off their Tells without even realizing it, not that Emma exactly needed them.

That was their first meeting. Unfortunately, it was also about a week or so before Mr. One Hand showed up. Fortunately, each progressive note provided a date and time (usually) for meeting up with Carrie Wells, sometimes _sooner_ than before. Eventually, over time (Hah!), Emma found a way of meeting up with the Perfect Memory Cop early enough that Carrie trusted her pretty well. Well enough that when Emma broached the subject of Carrie possibly teaching Emma _how_ she did her memory thing, she actually agreed.

Of course, Carrie's condition was exactly that; a _medical condition_. She'd started using her memory techniques when she was still a child and her brain still developing, still growing even. However, Emma came to the simple realization that the Time Loop she was stuck in, arguably gave her _more_ time to adapt and develop her own version of hyperthymesia. After all, Carrie hadn't started _remembering Everything_ until after her sister died and she struggled to hold onto every memory she could. It was maybe… six or seven years, at the most, before it cemented into her current 'condition', when she was a teenager, but it still happened.

Emma figured it might take her 'adult' brain maybe twice or even three times as long, but she certainly had the time. She just had to put in the work.

Around her fiftieth loop since meeting Carrie, give or take, she had something of a breakthrough. She _Woke Up_ in the car, in the Yellow Bug, and she… _remembered_ where they came from. A small town. Northern Maine. She also _remembered_ all of her correspondence degrees, and most of what was in the text books. A small handful of details were usually out of date or from bad sources, but nothing that affected anything else.

What was so odd, however, was that when Emma tried to go back farther in her memories, for instance to remember _why_ she and Henry had gone from their life in Boston to spend a year or so in a small town further north, she was left with nothing. Or even to try and gather more detail on anything else before that, like Henry's Sixth Birthday party. She could remember 'having one', but the details were fuzzy, no matter how much she focused on it. Ironically, the techniques she and Carrie worked on to remember her early life, all her foster homes, her time living on the street… Lily. _THAT_ , _all of that_ , she could remember in increasingly solid detail. But… from the moment of Henry's birth to the moment she started driving in the Bug, everything was… _fuzzy_.

Of course, she didn't _Wake Up_ in the Yellow Bug every time. In fact, that one time was the only instance where she could do things differently that early. Every other time, before and since, she drove straight for their New York Apartment and she doesn't _Wake Up_ until she wakes up the next morning.

This Loop, however, she had a solid plan to make the most out of every moment of time she had for the year. And also, apparently, someone new to meet.

 _12 Months Later…_

Emma woke up, same as she did every morning at 8:15, made breakfast while Henry watered their plants, (honestly she didn't know why they bothered, it was maybe a day or less until _he_ showed up and then time would reset), and somehow she always forgot the cinnamon for their breakfast hot chocolates on this day. Not any other day, and she didn't _forget_ anything anymore, but it was like a little sign that she gave herself, that on the day _he_ showed up, she didn't put cinnamon in their drinks.

It had been a good year, a good loop, she mused to herself as she finished up in the kitchen. She did indeed meet up with Carrie early, used all the tricks she'd learned of developing a fast friendship with her, and even worked at improving her memory some more. The next person on her 'list', she'd met after about a month or so.

Joan Watson was a medical doctor who no longer wished to practice medicine, at least not in the classic sense. She was a professional Sober Companion. Meaning she was assigned to live with, monitor, and more or less take care of recovering addicts. When Emma met up with her, she was living out of a Brownstone in Brooklyn, looking after a man by the name of _Sherlock Holmes_. For some reason, hearing the name of her patient always made Emma want to giggle or carry on like he was Harry Potter or something. She couldn't remember why, though. While 'Sherlock' wasn't exactly a common name, there wasn't anything too remarkable about it. Just one of those foreign names or something, right?

Emma never got to meet the infamous Sherlock, though apparently he was some kind of 'Consultant Detective', like a PI, only more involved with the police than most. He was always showing up at crime scenes and had contacts on the force that would call him in to, well, _consult_ on whatever case was giving them the most grief at the time. And because _he_ went, Joan went.

Of course, Joan didn't have a monopoly on bizarre consultants helping out the NYPD.

Another name on her list, who was a regular, was none other than Mystery Writer Richard Castle. He always did a book-signing/Reading for his last Derrick Storm novel. Once she found out the date and time, Emma made sure to mark it in her calendar and pull Henry out of school for the day, if necessary, so they could be there for it. Interestingly enough, at the same time, the Detective that Castle was using as inspiration for his next novel, a Kate Beckett, was also there. Mostly to tease and trip him up, but if Emma timed her personal introduction right, she could meet Beckett at the same time she was worming her way into the Castles' life.

Henry and Alexis got on like birds of a feather, no pun intended.

She was kind of hoping that they'd get together in the future… y'know, once the damn time loops stopped sending them back to the beginning of their time in NYC.

After a couple months of just getting to know each other, Emma always made sure to get all her girlfriends ( _just_ friends) together and introduce them to one another. In some cases, especially between Carrie and Kate, their reputations preceded them. They all loved hanging out together, though, and repeatedly thanked Emma for introducing them to each other, for bringing them all together. It was why Emma was always so meticulous in introducing herself to these people every chance she could get.

Because as much as it was a… a 'cheat' to get to know these people better, while only rehashing the same old stories to them… they were _great people_ , and even if they did the same things over and over, there were a million ways that she could tweak things to make more interesting. _Without_ doing anything illegal!

Emma glanced from Henry over to the fridge, where she saw the photo she'd put there of the gang's last "Girls Night Out". The memories brought a smile to her face.

As a matter of habit, while reminiscing, she catalogued everything about _everything_ going on around her throughout the whole night. Who and what she saw, who was around her, what music was playing, how many seconds passed between glances at the clock and calculating what occurred during each minute of the whole experience. This… habit of hers, used to take _hours_ of meditation.

Now it only took her a handful of seconds, the same as what it would take to casually remember any memory from the past. Knowing Carrie Wells was _awesome_!

She stopped what she was doing and went over to the refrigerator directly, after noting _The List_ , hanging just below the photos on the main door.

That last name, the date, time and place.

Oh, she'd gone, she'd definitely gone. But.

Emma squinted her eyes, concentrating, trying to remember. Going through that entire day in her memory, on fast forward. Normal day, a Saturday, she took Henry to Central Park, saw a bunch of people picnicking…

She stopped and frowned.

 _There_.

Her memory stopped _there_. Watching people picnic and do what people do in Central Park, enjoy nature in the midst of one of the world's busiest cities. But try as she might, the moment she glanced over one particular set of park-goers, her memory turned… _fuzzy_. It wasn't that she had amnesia or anything, but more that her memory turned back into " _regular_ " memory and she couldn't summon forth any additional details about what was going on around her than most other people could. It was… disturbing.

Moreso was that when she, later that day, went to the time and location… she was drawing an absolute blank as to what happened to her. She couldn't remember meeting anybody, and while she knew that it was a graveyard just outside the city, after going back to it the next day she didn't see anything weird about the place. There'd been fresh flowers at a grave for a couple buried together, by the name of Williams, maybe put there the day before, but nothing else that she could see reason for marking the date and time.

It was almost as bad as how she always started the Loop in some kind of daze. Actually, she briefly considered, it was almost _exactly the same_. What was up with that?

Before she could deduce any further answers, Henry called her to the table for breakfast.

"So," she asked as she sat down across from her son, "any plans for today? It's the weekend, I know, but, I've got… stuff… that is gonna keep me busy for the next few days."

"Yeah, I was gonna hang out with Riley and Maya and the rest," he answered. "Alexis is busy prepping for some test she has on Monday, and apparently her Dad and Kate…" he trailed off at the mild glare his mother sent him, "... Detective Beckett, have some kind of case?" He turned it into a question to distract her from his slip of the tongue.

"Yeah," Emma nodded. "Don't know much, but apparently it's something to do with this dead plastic surgeon and one of his patients. She asked me to check in with my contacts, see if anyones been talking. Unfortunately, whoever is behind it is mobbed up, so nobody is talking. Say hi to the Matthews for me when you drop by later."

"Will do, Mom!" Henry promised.

Right as they were finishing breakfast, however, there was a loud knock at the door.

"Someone coming over?" Henry asked her, confused.

Frowning, Emma glanced over at the clock, despite knowing exactly what time it was and who was at the door. "I'll be right back," she told him, wiped her mouth and got up.

Opening the door, there _he_ was. Mr. One-Handed-Black-Leather-Pirate-Guy. How odd that, until she saw his face like this, in spite of all her work at improving her memory, she could never _quite_ remember that his name was Killian Jones. She'd question if she was under the influence of some kind of memory drug, except at no point throughout the past year had she done _any_ kind of drugs. These… blank spots she kept running into were annoying.

"Swan," he gasped as he stepped over the threshold, "At last…"

"Stop," she commanded, holding out her hand and somehow pushing him back over aforementioned threshold. "Just give me the damn potion already. I'll meet you at the park this afternoon." She held out her hand expectantly.

"This… was not how I pictured this going," he said slowly as he pulled out the small vial of blue liquid. "Do you… remember? Me? Your family?"

"And like I tell you every time," she sighed, "My family is right here. All I know is, time is looping, the moment I take this drug or whatever it is, I find myself back in time a year ago exactly, waking up in this apartment. Fun as it would be to toss this down the drain, throw your ass in jail, and just get on with my life, fact of the matter is that I already know you're telling me the truth. Henry and I will meet you in the park this afternoon. Don't bother me until then."

Then she slammed the door in his face and went back to the kitchen rather than the table, where Henry was looking at her, concerned. "Mom?" he called out.

"Change of plans, Henry," she told him, even as she ripped the List off the fridge and pulled out the _second_ reason she befriended Joan and Kate and the rest; a portable blacklight and forensics kit. Shining the light on the note revealed the hidden instructions printed on both sides of the page, detailing the exact process for first concentrating the potion, or whatever, and thus allowing her to create more through dilution. "Go ahead and get ready. I'll take care of the dishes."

"Uh… OK…?" he just shrugged and did as he was told.

By the time he was out of the shower and dressed, Emma had prepared two 'full doses' while keeping the concentrate in a safe place for the moment. Something told her she would need it sooner rather than later. She wanted to do this together, with Henry, hoping that if he did he might start looping too, then maybe they could figure out what was going on.

"Here," she handed him his half of the blue liquid. "Drink this."

"What is it?" he asked, suspicious, looking like every kid after being told to take their medicine.

"It's something we both have to drink," she held up hers in demonstration. "Now don't argue, and do as I say, Henry. Drink."

Grimacing, but just shrugging in reply, Henry took the glass and together they knocked them back and swallowed. A small eternity of memory flashes later, they slammed the glasses down and looked at each other as though they hadn't seen one another in over a year. And, from a certain point of view, that could be the case.

Emma only had one thing to say in light of everything.

"I _hate_ Memory Spells!" she declared.

Interlude END

(AN: I briefly debated whether to post some of the 'new' chapters I have, like the second Regina chapter or the Henry chapter, but both of those, and in fact everything else that follows this, take into account that Emma has met Carrie and studied her Memory Techniques. So, Interlude this week, Chapter 3B of Emma's Loop next week, and _then_ I'll post the Henry and Regina chapters, which all have new content, promise! And it equally spark and head off the questions from those that are familiar with how the Infinite Loop Fics work; when in New York, away from Storybrooke, Emma is actually in a Hub/Near-Hub/Fused Loop situation. Problem for the Savior is, despite it being a Fused Loop and other active and Awake Loopers being there and even interacting with her, she is under the effects of a Memory Curse, and every time they try to see if she's Looping too, she gives the curse-standard responses that make everyone believe she is Unawake and Not Looping. And because of this assumption on the other Loopers parts, Emma herself, even after she is no longer under the memory curse, never puts it together or realizes that she's not the only time looper in the world. Feel free to drop questions on my PM.)


	6. Emma's Loop 3B

Third Season ( _Continued...)_

After Hook came by with the potion, and it took her longer than she'd like to figure out how to get her 'memory charmed self' to actually trust him and then do what she could to save the potion and dilute it properly so she didn't waste any. The trick with leaving the note to herself was actually Henry's idea, from _before_ Neverland, when she was still using lists (rather than her increasingly prodigious memory) to sort out her plans for the Loops.

Speaking of, now that she was back in Storybrooke, post-Neverland, there were three issues at hand that needed to be addressed. Everything else tended to be trivial after those anyway.

First; deal with Zelena, aka the Wicked Witch of Oz. That was, and always would be, the first priority to deal with in the new Storybrooke. The methods of dealing with her, however, varied, depending upon how much effort Emma wanted to put into it.

Second; decide if she wanted to risk time travel while stuck in a _time loop_. Stopping Zelena's plan, and the opening of the time portal, was simple. There were multiple stages at which everything would come toppling down around the green-skinned witch's ears, it was merely deciding if she wanted to stop them… or help them along.

Third, and reluctantly final; take care of Neal and Rumpelstiltskin. Or Neal/Gold. Neld? Goal? Baelstiltskin? Well, whatever. Those two had to be first _separated_ , and some means of keeping Neal alive through the curse of resurrecting the Dark One. Despite however more complicated that would make her love life.

And of course, as with everything in life, doubly so in the Loops, there is a multitude of ways of resolving each issue. Which, honestly, after dealing with Neverland that has only _one_ method of winning, was like Christmas for Emma. So while she could do everything from bringing Zelena in on the Family Group Therapy they had going on, to outright beating her green ass in a magic duel of epic proportions, or fuse Neal with _her_ or even Hook just as easily as kill Rumple all over again, to say nothing of trying to go to _different historical moments_ with the Time Portal, all of that came after one highly significant event.

Coming back Home.

* * *

The drove up Main Street, Emma staring out at it with the same wonder she did every time in coming back to this quaint, cursed little town. She finally pulled over on the street across from Granny's Diner, everything closed, obviously, as it was after eleven o'clock at night after all. She and Hook got out and stood there in the middle of the deserted street, looking at everything with the kind of awe usually reserved for Disneyland, or more appropriately, a haunted castle filled with wizards and witches.

"It's really back," she said, her tone a mixture of relief and surprise. Though the next was definitely said with more relief than (what she'd initially felt) dread. " _I'm_ really back."

"As quaint and homey as you remember?" Hook asked as he came around to her side.

"As cursed as I remember," she replied.

Hook reached into his pocket and with no small amount of relish, reattached his signature article; his hook, saying, "That's more like it, isn't it, Swan?"

She rolled her eyes at him. Before she'd managed to leave the proper notes for her Cursed Self so that she could have enough doses for both her _and_ Henry, she'd have argued with Hook about what her 'normal ordinary son' would think of the man they were 'helping' going around with a hook for a hand. Now, Henry had his memories back as soon as she herself did, so there wasn't any need to argue or 'explain things' to an 'impressionable kid' or anything like that. So instead, she quickly moved the conversation along.

"You men and your bling," she scoffed with a slight shake of the head. "Last time this curse took away everyone's memories. This time?"

Hook's expression fell slightly as he told her, "We don't know what it did."

"Then I'll find out," she said. "Stay here and watch out for Henry, all right?"

"Aye," he acknowledged, but she was already marching off, so he hurried to ask, "Where are you going?"

Spinning on her heel, while still moving off in the same direction she'd been headed, she answered, with no small amount of trepidation, "To talk to my parents."

The reason for her nervousness, aside from 'playing along' for Hook's sake, was actually a very real concern. Half the time, the only way her parents could be here in Storybrooke was if Snow cast the Dark Curse… by crushing David's Heart, and then splitting her own to share with him, leaving them… _vulnerable_ to later curses. The other half of the time… well, there was reason for her to be nervous, just leave it at that.

Knocking on the door to her parents… or maybe just Mary Margaret's apartment, Emma patiently waited, listening to the footfalls on the other side until the door was opened. The moment it did, she smiled and spoke first. "Hi."

It was David. She breathed a huge sigh of relief. The times it was Regina answering the door… _bad stuff_ had happened in the Enchanted Forest. Usually, Zelena getting her totem of courage earlier than normal. His expression, one of stunned disbelief and overwhelming joy was almost unmistakable. Fortunately, the only 'amnesia' parts of _this_ curse had to do with their time in the Enchanted Forest and nothing else, so Emma knew they'd all recognize her at the least. And so, with no small amount of satisfaction and joy of her own, she pronounced;

"I'm home."

Then there were hugs, maybe a few tears, but they dried up quick. And at this point, with Neverland _firmly_ behind them all, it was time to stop 'playing along'. Everything that followed didn't have 'only one way' to win, and in many ways could have _better_ outcomes than what originally happened. It was only Pan and going to Neverland that required the Savior to hide what she could really do and follow along with some script written by parties unknown. Well, unless she decided to go ahead and use the Time Portal at the end, of course. Then she'd have to follow through on the same script as before. Although, she tried _really hard_ not to ' _Marty McFly_ ' the whole thing by her trip to the past. Didn't always succeed.

* * *

She'd been going through all this for over a hundred Loops now.

Of course a recent development had her looking at everything anew and with greater appreciation, it still concluded with one resounding fact; she now had the experience of somewhere between seven hundred and a thousand _years_ under her belt, so to speak. At the very least, one tenth of that was spent as the Dark One, but that was for later consideration. And thanks to her meeting a woman by the name of Carrie Wells, and her desire to improve herself, make herself a better Savior, not to mention _daily_ practice on multiple memory techniques, she was now the semi-proud patient diagnosed with what could very well be the very first case of _self-inflicted_ hyperthymesia ever known.

Meaning she now _remembered Everything_!

What's more, she'd picked up that some things, mostly about her past, or Henry's past, or a handful of things in that Book of his, which were… for lack of a better term, _altered_. Not like someone was going around rewriting their memories or anything, but more… _varied_ , as though at some point in their past, in some Loops, they made one decision, in another Loop they apparently made a different decision, resulting in different memories. Sometimes it wasn't even anything that she had any say in whatsoever.

Which got Emma thinking, although it probably helped that she was now studying Quantum Physics as part of her 'self-study-correspondence-degrees'; What if she wasn't traveling through _Time_ when she Looped? What if she was actually traveling through various alternate realities and/or timelines? It would go a _long_ way to explaining why _some_ of her memories showed her staying on the streets for only a few days, (which was the truth, she knew, thanks to her reviewing her Memories daily), and others had her being out in the cold for several weeks to months. Same with her various foster-homes. Except for Ingrid and that family that Lily 'forced' her to run away from, exactly who and how she was raised seemed to shift with each Loop.

Nevertheless she could actually _tell_ what was a, a… a _variant_ and what was her true memories. Henry couldn't say the same, though with him it seemed to be who his classmates were. Having been raised in Storybrooke with Regina as his mother, there wasn't really a lot of variables for his life.

One might think that would make her situation even more untenable, intolerable due to the repeating events that matched with her now flawless memory, which could let her relive those same events again and again.

To her surprise that was _not_ the case.

Because of one resounding fact; the Loops centered around her Family. And for any orphan, no matter the age, no matter the circumstances, no matter the drama… the chance to spend _more time_ with their family is more valuable than gold. Plus, it kinda helps that their lives are hardly boring in the first place.

Speaking of excitement, Emma still had the Issues of 'Storybrooke After NYC' to deal with. At least, that's how she personally thought of the time during which the town was under threat of the Wicked Witch of Oz. Turns out the Four witches were _all good_ , so there was no 'East&West' = Evil, 'North&South' = Good, so there was only _one_ Wicked Witch, not two, or four or more.

Her favorite way of dealing with Zelena was to bring her in on the weekly therapy sessions with her, Regina and Henry. Bring her into the family, as it were. If she wasn't going through the Time Portal that is. Therapy kind of made Zelena reevaluate her whole 'change history' plan.

Not to say that she was always successful in convincing the witch to attend or make much progress at all in their sessions, but it was still her favorite.

The other ways she had of dealing with the green-skinned half-sister to the Evil Queen were more… _Fun_.

Well, for her at least.

* * *

"First of all, before we get started, I'd just like to say, thanks for coming," Emma said as the two women sat down across from one another in the comfortable living area. The fact that it just so happened to be Archie/Jiminy's spare Psychologist Office was mere coincidence.

"You hardly gave me a choice, _Savior_ ," the redhead scowled, utilizing her New Zealand/British accent to full effect in emphasizing her displeasure.

"No, I did, in fact, give you a choice," Emma remarked, crossing her legs and pulling on a pair of not-needed-since-LASIK thick-rimmed glasses. "It was merely a choice between something you didn't want to do, and something that would ruin all your plans. But we'll come back to that. First of all," she pulled out a notebook binder and opened it to a fresh page, "I want to assure you that anything revealed between us-unless or until you yourself reveal it-within these walls will remain secret. To take a little dig at both my mother and your sister, I actually know how to keep a secret, and you don't seem the type to share openly, so no worries there."

Smiling a bit at the insult, slight as it was, Zelena merely crossed her hands and leaned back in the comfortable chair. Emma looked to the witch expectantly.

"So," the redhead shrugged, "how is this supposed to work? You want to know all my secrets, Savior? Want to know how to stop my wicked plans?"

"Oh," Emma shook her head, marking something off in her notebook, "I already know most of your secrets, and exactly how to stop or reverse your plans, Zelena. Or do you prefer Ms. West?"

"How could you possibly know anything? You've been in New York for the past year!" Zelena cried in outrage.

"It's complicated," Emma shrugged. "Short version; I'm stuck in a Time Loop. I already know everything you're going to do, what I did to stop you, and what happens after all of that. I'm also more powerful than you. Before you try and throw a hissy fit and force me to prove it, take a look at this." She handed the standing witch a dreamcatcher, already loaded with memories. Emma's memories. Of the battle between the Wicked Witch and the Heroes as they fought to rescue baby Neal and stop the opening of the Time Portal.

"You show this to me, knowing what I'll do with it?" the redhead crowed.

"Keep watching," Emma gestured, and another set of memories played out. Same battle, only instead of Emma using White Magic to defeat Zelena, _Regina_ was the one to defeat her. And then in the set after that, Charming in glowing white armor, and then Hook wielding the Dark One Dagger, and then Rumpelstiltskin himself, and even one where _Henry_ showed up and bested the green-skinned witch.

"Point is," Emma took the dreamcatcher from the witch's numb fingers, "Stopping you is hardly any work. Redeeming you? _That_ is what I'm interested in."

" _Redeeming_ me? Are you joking?!"

"I am not joking. And I am most sincere in my intentions, Zelena."

"Then you are a fool!" she raised her hand and called forth her magic to smite the woman before her with a fireball.

Except nothing happened.

Emma took off her glasses and smiled. "Special wards. Mimics what happens outside of Storybrooke, aka the World Without Magic. Don't worry," she put her glasses back on, "It's temporary. But make no mistake, Zelena. I'm more powerful than you, and I can beat you. Easily. And, as you just saw, I'm not the only one. Now. Shall we begin?"

Frowning, the redhead briefly considered just leaving the room, it wasn't locked and she could tell that while _magic_ wouldn't work inside these walls, there wasn't anything keeping her in either. But what the Savior had said to her, told her, _shown_ her… It rung a bell of truth deep inside her. The part of her that was still the Embodiment of Innocence.

She pouted and trudged back over and fell into her seat opposite the Savior, her apparent therapist. "So how does this work?" she repeated her earlier question.

"You talk, I listen," Emma answered. "If there is something troubling you, or causing you internal strife, some inner turmoil bothering you, I ask questions to get you to think, work things out, and resolve those issues. For right now, we'll just get to know one another." She shrugged and gestured openly, "You talk. I listen."

Zelena frowned, and briefly considered just sitting there, stewing until the Savior finally let her go. Then she noticed the framed picture of a smiling Regina with Henry sitting on one of the side tables. Her frown deepened, and she began to talk. Mostly about how much she hated her sister and wanted everything that said sister had stolen from her, but she did talk. After a full hour of spewing every vile insult and twisted tortured imagining she wished upon her half-sister, Emma finally put a stop to it and told her that, if she wanted, Zelena could come back in a few days and they could continue talking.

The Wicked Witch vowed never to return, but Emma insisted that she was available, she just required Zelena to make an appointment beforehand.

The next afternoon, Zelena set up bi-weekly appointments with the Savior, every Monday and Thursday.

* * *

Fixing Gold and Neal's problem was simpler than most made it out to be. Well, simple for her. Those involved would probably say it was the most traumatic solution imaginable beyond just letting Neal die anyway.

She really didn't see what all the fuss was about.

They were out in the woods, 'looking for Gold' ironically enough. While Emma already knew the truth, she had to make sure that Belle 'found out' and told everybody else that needed to know at the same time. And while it wasn't always manageable, it really wasn't difficult at all to get Killian to join them in the search. Having put her phone on speaker, all three of them heard Belle's explanation about the mark on Neal's hand. Emma quickly filled the two men in her (love) life on the remaining deductions.

"I think Gold is inside you," she told the stooped-over Neal, "I'm sure that is why you are even still alive."

"Bloody hell," Hook couldn't help commenting, "I've heard of close father/son relationships, but this one takes the cake."

Neal doubles over, grasping his head as he gasped out, "I heard my father's voice in my head. He's in there. He's in me."

"He said," Emma explained, "there was no room. He meant you."

"I need you to help me, Emma," the father of her son begged, gasping. "Use your magic. Separate me and my father."

She stared into his face, shifting in small ways between Neal's and Gold's. "You'll die."

"I know," he gasped, "But you need my dad more than me to figure out who the witch is. To save the town. You need to do this."

She frowned and then looked back and forth between him and Hook. The latter frowned, recalling past conversations where he hadn't truly understood what she'd been talking about. Now, in the current circumstances, it all made sense. He knelt by his former rival, the boy that he'd once considered raising as his own, met the Savior's gaze, and nodded his head. Although his trepidation and anxiety were almost palpable.

"What if there was another way?" she asked the fusion of father and son. "What if we could get Gold out, but keep you alive?"

"How?" Neal asked, even as he was shaking his head. "There… (groan)... there's no way to beat this. I'm dying Emma. I just want you to know, I…"

"What if you were merged with someone else? Someone that could actually handle the pressure? Someone that didn't already have _every single Dark One ever_ in their head already? Someone that you'd have something in common with, maybe?"

Neal finally caught on and started looking back and forth between Hook and Emma.

"No… you've got to be joking," he said, disgust filling his tone.

"And the current situation is so much better?" Hook pointed out. "Look mate, it's not that I'm exactly… _eager_ for this, but if it means you living, and Emma's happiness. I'll do whatever it takes. What say you?"

Frowning, Neal shook his head, and between groans and gasps of pain, he started laughing. "Far be it from me to lose to Captain Hook. What would granpa say?"

"Probably something along the lines of, 'You should've resurrected me instead of your cowardly father, I want eternal youth, Peter Pan never fails', blah, blah, blah," Emma replied. "Your grandfather was a douche."

Laughing openly, he agreed. "No kidding! Hahaha! OK, do this before we change our minds. And… please, no gay jokes."

"No promises," Emma chirped, even as she began using her magic to take Neal out of Gold, and putting him inside the willing Captain Hook.

* * *

"Tell me about your mother," Emma said, adjusting her thick-rimmed glasses and tapping her pen on her pad of notes.

Zelena scowled and recrossed her arms. They'd been crossed, uncrossed, and every manner of cross throughout all their sessions thus far.

"What happened to just listening?" the woman growled out between clenched teeth.

"You're forgetting the part where I said that I would ask questions," Emma took off her glasses and looked at Zelena plainly, "Questions which I believe would be of benefit for _you_ to know the answers to. Now, as you are no doubt aware I had the distinct… hm, what's the word to use?"

"Priviledge? Honor? Blessing?" Zelena suggested.

"... _Chance_ to… encounter her," Emma finally settled on the proper phrase. "The first thing that I said to…" the blond paused and briefly frowned as she recalled Zelena's previous reactions to the Mayor's name, "your sister, and it remains the most diplomatic thing I can say about Cora Mills, is that she's a piece of work."

"How dare you! My mother is…"

"Yes?"

The Savior's glasses were back on her face and her pen was primed to begin note taking.

"My mother," Zelena calmed and composed herself before continuing, "was a great woman. She knew exactly what she wanted and how to get it. If she had…" She trailed off, before rallying her thoughts. "If she had kept _me_ instead of putting all of her energy into _Regina_ , I guarantee you that things would be vastly different!"

"Of that, I have no doubt," Emma agreed.

"You don't know anything!" Zelena snapped at her.

Rather than defend her own point of view or her neutrality, which would obviously be a lie, she turned things around on her patient. "What do you know about her? Your mother, Cora Mills?"

"I know that she was powerful," the Wicked Witch said. "I know that she was trained by the Dark One. She gave me up before manipulating things to marry into royalty, sending me away to another realm."

"Oz," Emma supplied, making a note.

"Yes," she grudgingly admitted.

"Why Oz?" she was asked.

"What?"

"Why did Cora send you, her first born child, her only daughter to date, to Oz of all realms? Why not Wonderland or Agrabah or even Neverland, not that I would wish that on anybody, but the question remains, why Oz?"

"I… I don't know," the redhead finally admitted. "I suppose it was just a matter of convenience. Oz is… _was_ safer than the Enchanted Forest, and considerably more stable than Wonderland or Neverland. It was also magically convenient, as I said. Its borders are freely open. You don't need a curse or a magic bean to get there, merely the proper spell or portal."

"Would it interest you to know that you actually got to meet your mother, and your sister, before that day you got a hold of the Wizard's shoes?" Emma asked.

"What?" Zelena exclaimed. "What are you talking about?"

Emma held up a bottle of the Memory Restore potion.

"Reg-Your sister," Emma quickly corrected herself. "When she took this, she found herself remembering a lot more than just what had happened for the past year in the Enchanted Forest. For example, shortly after she adopted Henry, she actually discovered my identity as the Savior a full decade beforehand. She also found herself recalling a time when she was a young girl and accidentally got hurt playing in her… in Cora's room. She was dying, or at least that is what she was told after she'd been healed." The blond took off her glasses to let Zelena see the truth in her eyes as she told her. "Healed by _you_ , Zelena. Not that Cora actually told either of you that you were half-sisters at the time. She remembered having fun playing with you in her room with all her toys. And then Cora taking you away and… forgetting all about you."

Zelena had stopped breathing some time ago, her breath caught in her throat.

"Ah," Emma put her glasses back on, and took some more notes. "When you took your own potion, before this Curse was cast, so you could keep your memories of the last year, you recovered the same memories, didn't you?"

"I… I thought it was some fantasy, or dream that I'd had," she whimpered.

"..." Emma closed her notebook. "I think we're done for today. See you on Thursday?"

* * *

"Where is she?" the Wicked Witch demanded upon her arrival in front of the clocktower. "Where is the Evil Queen?"

"At home," the Savior answered, "In bed. _Very_ exhausted. I might've worn her out, y'know, with pre-victory celebrations. If you know what I mean."

It was the night where the Wicked Witch 'challenged' the Evil Queen to a duel, threatening the whole town if she didn't show up. Of course, Emma had a few ways around that. And while Regina _was_ at home in bed, she was handcuffed-and not in the _fun way_ -to it and under enough wards that she wasn't getting out unless Emma was the one to release her. Besides, it was hard enough to get Zelena to face her head on originally, when she was still a newbie at being the Savior. Fortunately, she planned ahead for Zelena's 'poor sportsmanship'.

"You shouldn't have interfered, _Savior_ ," the Wicked Witch taunted, pulling out the Dark One Dagger. "Now I'll have my, heh, pretty little pet lay waste to this town and everyone in it! Dark One! I commanded you…"

"To take a breather and relax," Emma interrupted, brandishing a nearly identical ornate dagger. To the surprise of all those gathered, Rumpelstiltskin actually did take a deep breath and a long sigh and fell to his butt, utterly and completely relaxed by all appearances.

"... What?!" Zelena screamed. "No! I command you to destroy the Savior!"

"Take a closer look, Z," Emma pointed to the name on the weapon she wielded.

Frowning, the villain looked down and inspected the dagger in her hands. It was the same as it always was, ever since she first acquired it back in the Enchanted Forest. Same ornate designs, same flamberge curves along the blade, same hilt, same… the name of the Dark One. She paused and her frown deepened. That was it. The name on the dagger she held was " _Rumplestiltskin_ ". It was the wrong name.

The redhead paled dramatically and looked up at the Savior, wielding the _True_ Dark One Dagger. Who then casually tossed the sole means of controlling the most powerful dark magician in all the realms… over to the relaxing Rumpelstiltskin. He did catch it, but he didn't get up or invoke bloody revenge against her. Instead, he seemed to just relax that much more.

He did, however, look up and ask the blond one question.

"Is he all right?"

She smirked back at him and replied, "What do you think?"

"How did you… I _stopped you_!" Zelena screamed out, referring to the 'earlier attempt' at getting the Dagger from her at the Farmhouse.

"A better question would be," Emma started moving forward, "If I had the dagger since then, how have you been able to 'command' the Dark One," she made air quotes for the word, "to do anything that you said for the past, oh, day or so?"

At that, the two villains froze, and genuinely reflected upon that.

"Answer," Emma pulled out _another_ dagger, though this one had one glaring difference to the others; the name on it said _Emma Swan_ , "Rumpelstiltskin hasn't been the Dark One since shortly after the Curse was broken and magic brought to Storybrooke. Fact; depending on _where_ a person gets stabbed, and what they're stabbed with, it is entirely possible to _kill_ someone, and revive them with very little effort after they are, for all intents and purposes, dead. And with the right ingredients, of which are plenty around Storybrooke, it is simple enough to make just about anybody a sorcerer of sufficient power. As for the whole 'resurrection' thing, well," still blond and not-scaly Dark One Emma shrugged, "That was actually real. Funny thing, even though the whole Key and Vault thing were _designed_ around bringing forth the Dark One, the ritual can actually be used to bring back… pretty much anybody. As for how you could control him, well, with dark magic, compulsion spells are _literally_ a dime a dozen."

"Now then," Emma hid away 'her' Dagger, as her smirk turned decidedly, and appropriately, dark, "What to do about you two, and keeping my secret, hm?"

"Cat's out of the bag, I'm afraid, Ms. Swan," Gold remarked as he stood up.

"All of these people just heard that _you're the Dark One_!" Zelena screamed out. "The _Savior_ is the _Dark One_! Well? What do you all have to… say… about… that…?"

The crowd, which had 'gathered' for the duel between the Wicked Witch and the Evil Queen, all of whom had been remarkably still ever since Emma revealed the switch, began to fade away. Like the illusion that they were, until only the three dark magic users were left on the deathly quiet street.

"Sleeping spell," Emma elaborated, her blond hair turning silver and a diamond-like sheen appearing on her skin. "Spell, not curse. Everyone will wake with the dawn, and learn that their Savior has, yet again, saved them from the villain and they can live happily ever after. But that is hours away. So much time to kill."

Zelena and Rumpelstiltskin both gulped, suddenly very unsure.

* * *

"So," Emma began their session with her usual question, "is there anything that you'd like to talk about today?"

"Besides the usual, you mean?" Zelena grumbled, arms re-crossed again.

Emma offered her hands in an open gesture. "I mean, simply, is there anything at all that you want to talk about? Whether we've already talked about it or not, is entirely up to you. This is for your benefit, Zelena, not mine. I believe I've demonstrated that on multiple occasions now."

"You and all the other so-called heroes, certainly have at that," she grumbled.

"If you'll permit me," the witch's sounding board spoke, "You seem… grouchy today. Did something happen since our last session?"

"Oh, like you don't know!" she accused, re-re-crossing her arms.

"I could guess," Emma confessed, "but then you'd just get grouchier at the various reminders. I'd rather not sabotage all the progress we've made and you just tell me. I may have a solution for your troubles that you haven't thought about."

"I… I lost the Dark One," she confessed in an unprecedented display of honesty and openness. Emma quickly checked her calendar.

"Gosh, is it that time already? Guess Neal finally crawled his way to the surface. Don't worry, I'll take care of that this afternoon and the dagger will start working for you again after that."

Zelena blinked, so stunned that she actually allowed her arms to uncross. "Wait, what?!"

"I know what happens, Z," Emma shared a grin with her. "I just need to switch Neal from Gold to Hook, then it'll just be the Dark One only in Gold's head, letting you control him with the dagger again. As far as the dagger itself," the blond shrugged, "That is between you and Gold. If he were any threat to me, I would have already stolen the dagger from you before you'd even realized it was gone. That being said," She once again took off her thin-framed Librarian glasses to show her eyes to the redheaded witch, "Don't use him to threaten any of my family, Z. You wouldn't like me when I get… _protective_." She put her glasses back on, letting the chain dangle loosely around her neck.

"Now," she opened the notebook and turned things back to professional. "With that little wrinkle for your plans addressed, let's turn our attention back to you. If you could, would you go back to being the Good Witch of the West? Would you go back to being the Patron Witch of Innocence? If you could?"

Zelena frowned and her arms, lying flat at her side, rose up and were re-crossed again.

Near the end of the allotted time, after practically a full hour of omnipresent silence, the Wicked Witch, former Witch of Innocence, answered the question.

"...yes."

* * *

"Where is she?" the fully-dressed-for-the-part Wicked Witch cried out. "Don't tell me. She's a coward. This isn't good. For all of you! If my sister isn't here in five minutes I'm going to let the Dark One off his leash." She brandished the Dark One Dagger for good measure.

The crowd of Storybrooke citizens, most of them fellow heroes or friends of the Charming clan, shuffled nervously, looking about. Some of them might have risked it and tried to rush the Witch and the Dark One, but their more sensible peers held them back. Even assuming there were enough of them to overwhelm the immensely powerful Wicked Witch, there would be no way of getting the dagger away from her before most if not all of them were destroyed. The irony was not lost on any of them that they were actually waiting on the Evil Queen to come and save them from the dark couple's wrath.

"Time's up!" Zelena suddenly called out, though no one was sure if it had actually been five minutes or not. "Who'd you wanna kill first, Rumple?"

"He's not killing anyone," said Emma, stepping out from the crowd. "If you wanna fight someone, Zelena, fight me."

"Sorry dear," she sneered at the red-jacketed blond, "I don't dance with amateurs."

"I'm not an amateur," Emma said. "I'm the Savior."

Barely restraining a laugh of derision, Zelena commented, "Looks like someone has an inflated sense of self-worth." She turned to Rumpelstiltskin, her intent all to clear. The Dark One turned his dark magic upon the champion of light magic and Savior of Storybrooke.

Only to have her turn and meet him head on with a shining shield of energy, which not only blocked the force he'd brought to bear upon her, but turned it back on the source, knocking _him_ back, though still on his feet.

"Hmph," the true villain grunted. "Lucky shot. Anybody else wanna give it a go?"

"I do," Regina said as the crowd parted for her. "Didn't anyone tell you, dear? Black is _my_ color!"

"But it looks so much better on me," Zelena chuckled. "I was beginning to think you aren't going to show up."

"I couldn't let my sister off that easily," she replied.

"So, you've accepted me into the family?" Zelena mocked her.

Regina glanced over at Emma before responding, "I've accepted that we both had the same mother, yes. Although, please forgive me if I think it's too soon for Sunday Dinners."

"Oh, how will I go on?!"

Emma rolled her eyes. As much as _her_ family dealt with hope and True Love, it would seem that the Mills family mastered in sarcasm and witty banter.

"Just answer this one question, before we begin," Regina stepped forward so the sisters were face-to-face. "What the hell did I ever do to you?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Zelena taunted her baby sister in her face. "You were _born_!"

Regina slapped her. Hard.

"I've been waiting to do that," the Evil Queen snarled. "All. Day."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Emma interrupted. "You take your sis, I'll take Gold. Oh yeah, one last thing." The Savior snapped her fingers and there was a sweeping wave of white magic throughout the crowd, until it was just the four magic users in the middle of the street. "Less collateral damage this way. Fewer distractions too. So… what? What is it?"

The other three were all staring at her, wide-eyed and open-mouthed in Zelena's case.

"What?" she said again.

"H-how did you do that?" the Witch stammered.

Emma shrugged. "It's a simple transportation spell. As easy as 'poofing' everywhere. Helps being the Sheriff, I pretty much know where everyone lives. Makes it simpler to send them all home."

"But… there were over a hundred people here!" Zelena cried out. "The amount of power to… you sent them _all_ to their _own homes_?!" she interrupted herself. Emma nodded.

The three dark magic users continued to just stare at her.

"So…" Emma drawled, "We doin' this or what?"

* * *

Emma silently watched as Zelena snuck in and stole the broken hilt of her father's sword. She stood by as her transformed flying monkey minions swooped in and captured Regina's heart from Robin's camp. And did nothing as Rumpelstiltskin 'spun his brains out' night and day for weeks on end.

The final piece of the time travel puzzle was literally _moments_ away from being born. But was it really? The Savior had to ask herself, was a newborn baby, _minutes old_ , truly the only totem of innocence available? Or was it merely one of those ironic villain things that the bad guys always chose to do?

Unfortunately, she'd discovered throughout the time loops, anything other than her baby brother, and the time travel spell would fail, no matter what. Even when she tried to supply a 'better' option, truly there was no greater symbol of innocence personified than a newborn baby.

 _After_ the Time Portal was opened and successfully cast, not to mention once Emma had gone through it, she could use the Master Fairy Wand, the wand that could replicate _any magic_ ever cast before, to actually reopen the Time Portal multiple times, no need for the totems and spell to be cast again. It cost a Curse-Load of magic and raw power to cast each time, but a bit of practice here and there and she could do it with little issue. Multiple times.

Unfortunately, that only applied per Loop. Resetting time, reset what the wand recognized as 'already cast', even if she got a hold of the wand before Zelena showed up. That was really annoying, but it also meant she was left with a moral quandary practically every Loop; let Zelena cast her spell, stop her, let the Portal open, go through, get wand, come back, and be able to cast Time Portals at will (more or less). Or stop her. And never be able to use those Time Portals she'd be able to make later on.

Decisions, decisions…

On the one hand, in spite of her 'thinking' of a different time she'd like to go back to (early days of Storybrooke so she could go kidnap her younger self and be raised by her parents and maybe even Regina, or even to the years when Regina and Zelena were young girls, taking them and raising them herself in Oz or Wonderland, or even back in the Real World), she _always_ ended up in the time of her parents first meeting. She at least managed to rectify matters by stealing the ring herself at the right moment (as just like the portal's destination, her mother falling out of that tree rather than onto the carriage _always_ happened), and getting it to Snow's possession just in time for Charming to track and 'find' her for their first adventure together. After that, it was merely a matter of getting Rumpelstiltskin to get the Master Fairy Wand for her to use to get back. And get the urn that Elsa was trapped in as well.

So really, the only real reason to 'go back' would be to bring the false Marian to the future, and release Elsa from the urn trapped in the Dark One's vault. Which, in those instances where she did stop Zelena's plan and prevented the Time Portal from opening, _somehow_ Elsa's urn always turned up, whether from it being knocked over in Gold's shop, or peddled from the local Pottery Barn, to falling out of a 'random' portal and breaking open on impact.

On the other hand, _after_ her own version of _Back To The Future_ , so long as she hung onto the wand, she could create 'smaller' Time Portals. And _those_ weren't stuck going to the same moment. But they were limited to the realm she was in. So, she _could_ go back to those early Storybrooke days… except she always landed _outside_ of Storybrooke and couldn't get in as the Curse was still in its prime. So while she could go and 'raise herself', that was getting way too meta. Getting her younger self to Storybrooke wasn't looking like much of an option either.

She could, however, go more recently into the past, and so long as it was after the Breaking of the original Curse, she could land in Storybrooke just fine. She loved to use it to go back and basically use the things like massively overpowered Time Turners, giving her 'more time' to do homework and the like, not to mention fix whatever mistakes happened in whatever adventures they were undertaking. She could even travel to the _future_!

Well, the future that she knew about, anyway. Mostly that just let her team up with her future self (selves?) to face off against the Black Fairy and Hades and then that Cthulu-thing that threatened not just Storybrooke and the other realms, but the whole freaking _world_!

More often than not, she let Zelena succeed in her plans just so she could have enough back-up when it came time to destroy that fracking nightmare!

Hm…

Decisions, decisions...

* * *

"If you succeed in your plan to open a Time Portal," Emma asked, "What would you do? I mean, unless you gather the same or similar ingredient in the new time line and cast the spell anew, you're looking at a one-way trip. Where, or when, would you go? What would you do? And not just what would you change, but after you made the change you wanted, what would you do then? Try to find someway back to the present? Live out the rest of your life there? Find some means of immortality that would let you survive to present day and beyond… but then there would be two of you. The one from the 'future', and the one from the changed past, aka the present. What would you do, Zelena?"

None of Zelena's plans had gone according to her initial plan. Charming never faced his darkside and thus overcame his fear and demonstrated his _courage_. While Hook and Neal shared a body, Emma was 'dating' her sister, and all the gold that Gold had spun his mind out creating had disappeared. And it was days, if not hours from the birth of the second child of Snow White and Prince Charming.

But she didn't seem to care.

She was actually more concerned over the fact that she wasn't certain any longer if she actually wanted her plan to succeed or not anymore. Because… because she'd caught the vaguest glimpse, just a tiny flicker really, of true happiness. For herself. It was…

"I'm not actually sure," the laying-down Zelena finally answered the question.

It was confusing!

"Part of me just wants to go back to the day my mother gave me up and show off all that I can do," she went on to say. "Prove to her that I was worthwhile, that I… that I was good enough. That I _AM_ good enough! And I _am_ good enough! Damnit!"

"You are," Emma confirmed, adjusting her 'sexy secretary' glasses along the bridge of her nose. She tugged down her slitted-mini-skirt and recrossed her legs, her stocking tops playing peek-a-boo with her hemline. Her white silk blouse, fully buttoned-up-but with a plunging V-neckline-tucked tightly into the skirt and stretched across her upper form. "You are the most powerful magic user in all of Oz. You've fought back your inner darkness and jealousy, not once, but _twice_! And you cracked the code of magical time travel, something that every single magician since the beginning of time has claimed as impossible. Enough so that they actually made it one of the 'Laws of Magic' that time travel was impossible. But you, with your intelligence, figured out a way to do so. You are good enough, Zelena."

"Damn right I am!" the redhead shouted to the ceiling.

"So is that all you'd do?" Emma asked. "Go back and show your mother the woman that her abandoned daughter would one day become? Maybe ask her to go back and raise her proper? To take her in and love her?"

"..." Zelena's mouth was opened to answer, but no sounds were forthcoming.

Normally, Emma might have prompted her with a question or minor suggestion, trying to push new thoughts into her head, get her to change faster. Instead, she quietly sat there, waiting for the answer. Though she did make sure to hide all signs, if any, of her impatience or boredom. Reviewing her favorite memories of time spent with her family tended to do the trick for that.

It began small, but soon enough Zelena was outright shaking her head, and said, "No. That… is not what I would do. If… I'd find out the truth, find out what my mother was truly like, and… _if_ she is the monster that everyone makes her out to be… I'd kidnap young Regina and take her to Oz to be raised alongside my younger self. And then I'd probably kill that woman. To… protect them."

"To protect their innocence," Emma supplied, leadingly.

"Oh."

The redhead's green eyes went wide with realization. "That's what she meant. Not that I… _be_ innocent, but that I… understand it, know it, be…" Zelena's voice broke as the emotional damn broke and tears began leaking from the cracks, "... _be willing_ to _protect_ innocence. That… that is what our sisterhood was supposed to be. Not… paragons of our respective virtues, but guardians, protectors of them. Oh god, what have I done?!"

Emma quickly moved over to the couch to comfort the distraught woman.

"Nothing that can't be fixed or repaired," Emma whispered to her. "I promise you. I will help you in whatever ways you need me to, Z. If you still want to cast your spell, I'll help you do so. If you want to go back and change the past, I'll help you do it, even if it means oblivion for me. Because right now," she lifted the inconsolable woman's head, "Right as of this moment, you are a person worth fighting for. And even if you fall to the darkness again, even if you were to turn around and betray me and kill all my friends and family. Zelena? I would still help you do it. Because." She grabbed the woman's face so they were eye-to-eye, "You. Are. Good. And, I'm saying this as a sister, of sorts, I love you, Z. You. Are. Loved. And that means, no matter what, I'm on your side. Got it?"

They spent the rest of the afternoon crying. Emma had to cancel her date with Hook. And, when they called her later, Regina immediately walked out on her date with Robin to come help comfort her sister.

Emma didn't get to time travel that loop. Or any loop that she successfully 'counseled' the Wicked Witch back into being the Witch of Innocence.

* * *

The battle between the Evil Queen, the Savior, the Dark One and the Wicked Witch was epic and magnificent and absolutely terrible to behold. And finished in less than ten minutes. Although, to them, it probably felt like hours, if not days.

As always, Regina relied on her two primary Go-To's when it came to battle; lots and lots of fireballs, and the occasional blast of overwhelming force, displayed as either a stream of red energy, or a nearly-invisible pressure wave. She was facing off with her half-sister, and in spite of Emma 'preparing' her for the fight, it was considerably more one-sided than she'd like, because that was not _her_ side.

Zelena, almost in counter to her younger half-sibling, resorted with a finer control and more diverse battle spells to call upon, though she too had her favorites. Mostly, despite throwing in a greater variety of telekinetic and 'throwing stuff around' attacks, she resorted to green-flame fireballs, the occasional blast of lightning, and her true favorite; teleporting in behind her adversary and striking at their unprotected backside, usually with a melee weapon like a knife or other blade. Fortunately for the heroes, Emma had specifically trained Regina in dealing with this trick, so the few times that the Evil Queen's back _was_ unprotected, she instantly unleashed one of those non-visible force waves, repeatedly, until she could put the wall at her back again.

All told, there were only about four such exchanges between the half-sisters, interspersed with _lots_ of fire-exchange, explosions, and dodging rather than trying to actually block the dark magic spellfire. At one point, Zelena successfully cornered Regina and outmaneuvered her so she was completely open and was caught totally off-guard, allowing the redhead to strike and thrust her hand into her opponent's chest with a burst of dark magic, reaching for her heart. That it wasn't there was merely baseline, and what always happened in this fight.

What _didn't_ always happen in this fight was the other half of it; The Savior Versus The Dark One!

"Seriously?" Emma called out, sarcasm dripping from every word as she taunted her opponent. "Is that _all_ you've got Gold? You're under orders to _kill me_! Not make me itch!"

The red-leather-clad blond backhanded the flaming balls of death the centuries-old embodiment of Dark Magic was sending her way. When he finally upped the power and launched a larger-than-normal inferno down upon her, unlike the two witches battling it out next to her, she _actually did_ block the attack. With _one hand_!

"OK, that one actually stung," And she was still smiling and making jokes all the while, and giving an Oscar-worthy performance as she hid exactly how much of a strain she was under while making every little thing she did look absolutely easy. "For a second."

"My turn," she spoke in a tone that promised her son's grandfather a whole lot of pain.

She started off with her own Go-To move, which remained the same even after nearly two-hundred Loops (averaged out to about two thousand years, give or take fifty years on either side); a blast of raw, unfiltered White Magic Force, taking the appearance of a stream of cloudy white energy, but hit with twice the amount of force of a standard M61 NATO AP-round, just spread out over the entire contact area where the beam hit. She'd actually taken measurements at several points.

Problem was, most of what she used this move against tended to be _really large_ monsters of one kind or another, so it didn't have as much impact as it would against a human-sized opponent… such as Rumpelstiltskin.

He actually tried to shield himself, momentarily impressing her as he did manage to hold off her attack, though in the end he was thrown back and teleporting away to dodge the rest, which went on to explode and completely destroy a parked car behind where he'd been standing. She sensed where he landed, and switch attack spells even as she spun on the spot and unleashed the blast of spell-lightning upon him before he could get a proper defense in place.

Rumpelstiltskin, however, was centuries old for a reason, and just because he couldn't put up the perfect defense to stop her attack, didn't mean he just let it hit him. He dove and rolled out of the path of the sparks, even as he conjured a small metal shield for it to ground out in and shot a fireball at her with his other hand.

"Hey," she called, even as she followed him with the spell-lightning and dispersed the fireball with her off-hand. "Pretty spry for an old guy!"

"EMMA, WILL YOU PLEASE _FOCUS_!" Regina shouted, while she dove for cover from the Wicked Witch's attacks.

"You wanna switch dance-partners?" she casually offered, directing a small amount of the sparks she was generating to both their opponents to give her partner a bit of breathing room.

"... No, I'm good," Regina replied, readying her next set of attacks.

"Thought so," the blond retorted, even as she allowed her spell-lightning to fizzle out and switched to shooting fireworks (literally, it was the same spell she'd once used to demonstrate for her family that she had full control of her magic) at the Dark One with her dominant hand. At the same time, she held her off-hand behind her back and divided her attention-necessary-so she could begin casting the spell she'd need to end this once and for all.

Unfortunately, this was a _very_ complicated and a _very_ powerful spell, so while she could probably cast it in less than a minute-if given the time to do so-she'd still need several times that just to gather and focus the _power_ required for it. Specifically; 10 minutes.

Which is the only reason the fight lasted as long as it did, as from the word 'Go!' Emma had been channeling part of her power toward this spell, only allowing herself roughly ten percent of her standard power level to actually face off against Rumpelstiltskin and the Wicked Witch. She'd finally reached the point necessary to successfully cast the spell.

"Impressive, Ms. Swan," Gold retorted, even as he dispersed the colorful explosions-and they were definitely _explosions_ -going on around him. "Most impressive. But not enough to stop me. Unfortunately, the only way _to_ stop me is to get the dagger away from Zelena."

Emma stopped with the fireworks and rolled back and away from his retaliations, using all her parkour skill to do so. She'd reached the point that she now had to put _all_ of her attention and power into the spell she was getting ready to cast. All of a sudden, the battleground quieted with the silence of deadly stillness.

"Unfortunately," Gold went on to say, "it would appear that is no longer an option. I'm sorry, Ms. Swan … Emma… I truly am." He formed a large fireball with both hands.

Off to the side, Zelena screamed in outrage as she retrieved her hand from her sister's (empty) chest, and after knocking her out with a bit of magic, turned her full attention on the Savior, and the thorn in her side for this whole mess.

Emma took full advantage of the distraction and brief reprieve the villains were giving her. A quick glance was enough to confirm for her that Regina was all right, and in fact was already coming to, even as she stood in the middle of the street before the clocktower and raised her off-hand toward the sky while extending her dominant hand out in front of her, palm up.

"I hate repeating myself, Rumple!" Zelena snapped at the Dark One. "Would you just kill her already? I have to track down Regina's Heart now. There's no point to this charade any longer."

Emma smirked, but didn't say anything.

"Charade?" Regina repeated, however, getting to her feet and backing away from the confrontation of Savior and Villains. "So _that's_ what this has all been about? Getting your green little hands on _my Heart_?!"

"More than just your Heart, Regina," Emma informed her, as the final piece of magic locked into place. The sky overhead, pitch black as it was night, clouded over so even if it had been noon in the day, it would be the same. There was a rumble of thunder and brief flashes of lightning. Everyone seemed to realize at the same moment that the blond was still in the same pose and had been for nearly a minute.

"By the way," she said as the sky shook with rumbling thunder, "Might want to make sure that you're not holding onto anything metal for the next few minutes."

They all, unconsciously, glanced toward the Dark One Dagger, still held aloft in Zelena's hands. There was a bright flash and a deafening pulse of thunder. Regina immediately 'banished' all metal and jewelry she had on her (even her bra and heels, switching to rubber-soled sporty variations). Just in time too, as moments after the first flash, there was another, blinding, and the sound of thunder was all around them and instant!

Emma Swan had just been struck by a bolt of _very REAL Lightning_!

Gold vanished the fireball he'd conjured and took a step back in open-faced fright. The only thing that could override the compulsion of the control of the Dagger was primal emotion, or sometimes Pure emotions, such as love. But fear and self-preservation tend to be easier to call upon.

"No," he gasped out, even as the Savior, _still_ being _struck_ by the Lightning-and _not_ already dead and burned to a crisp, brought both hands together around the point of impact and began to shape something. "No! NO! Are you _insane_ , woman?!" he screamed.

His two students turned shocked looks upon their former teacher. They'd never heard such raw terror from him. They were about to learn why.

" _No One_ can control that spell! Not even _you_ , Ms. Swan!" he shouted over the noise of the ongoing energy-onslaught. "Only the most purest and untainted practitioners of Light Magic could ever have the barest hope of using that spell! And though you may be the Savior, _NO ONE_ is pure enough to cast the spell; _**THOR'S WRATH**_!"

"What?" Regina gasped, then turned her attention to her co-mother and cried out, "EMMA! NO, DON'T DO IT! THINK ABOUT HENRY!"

"She's INSANE!" Zelena shouted.

They were all shouting now, as the noise level had reached levels that they couldn't hear anything without it. Not that it mattered anymore, as Emma had finished what she'd been doing to shape the Lightning, which finally cut off from the sky, revealing the blond to be holding a arcing and pulsing _Lightning HAMMER_!

Smirking at the looks of raw astonishment and awe coming her way, Emma just reared back and then swung the hammer down.

Robin Hood didn't get to have a 'second child' that Loop, and Gold developed a stutter to go along with his more-pronounced limp.

* * *

"Well," Emma gestured to the sun-cross magic circle etched into the dirt floor, "Here we are. Ready for this?"

"I've been ready for ages!" Zelena cried out, vibrating with glee.

"Are you sure about this, Emma?" Regina questioned nervously.

"I'm sure that I want to be able to create time portals again, especially to help out against the Black Fairy," she responded. "I also know that none of the totems are destroyed, nor drawn into the portal, when the spell is cast. And I kind of want to see what's gonna happen when the totems are offered freely and four powerful mages cast the spell rather than just one."

"So, how is this gonna work?" David asked as he stood by one of the 'corners' of the circle, Snow and their newly born son in her arms at another.

"The totems are placed," Zelena answered, "Then we begin to cast the spell and focus all our energies on it. And then…" she gasped out in rapture, "the portal opens."

"And Zelena goes first, though Regina, Gold and I will be sure to follow," said Emma.

"Emma," Snow begged, holding her newborn son close, "Are you _sure_ about this?"

"He'll be fine, Mom," Emma promised. "I've seen this happen _hundreds_ of times now. Admittedly, while everyone was fighting Zelena to get him back, but there have been a few times where we got here too late, and the portal was open, but everyone and everything, including my little brother there, is just fine. Ironically, when that happens, the only one drawn into the portal is me. Can we do this already? Mom's getting cold feet."

The totems, Gold's brain, Charming's broken sword, Regina's blackened Heart, and the newborn of Snow White were placed at the appropriate corners of the magic circle. Standing next to their respective totems (Emma standing by her father's sword, while Snow hovered protectively behind Zelena, weapon at the ready), the four mages began to cast the Time Travel Spell. The magic gathered and began to pool at the center of the cross-section in the circle. Unlike normal, however, where the streams of power were a burgundy gold color, there were shades of white, red, green and crimson, mixing together to create a shining _golden yellow_ portal! Once the magic had taken full effect, the four stopped feeding it.

"My word," Gold couldn't help but comment. "You truly are brilliant, Zelena. It's working. It's really working."

"Better than I ever dreamed it could!" Zelena acknowledged.

"That probably has more to do with Emma's contributions than anything else," Regina couldn't resist getting a dig in at her sister.

"OK, totems jobs are done!" the Savior confirmed, taking up the sword and passing it back to her father, while Snow surged forward and quickly retrieved their son. Regina replaced her Heart, while Gold merely vanished his totem so that it might never be used against him. "And before anybody else asks, _YES,_ I am _sure_ about this! Z, as soon as it starts to tug, jump in, focus on the time or events more than the place. The rest of us will follow."

They didn't have long to wait, and without any further prompting, Zelena Mills of Oz ran and jumped into the portal. Regina and Emma were quick to follow, and while the Charming Couple wanted to go, Rumpelstiltskin, Dagger in hand, locked them in place before jumping in himself. The portal closed before anybody else could try and pursue them.

On the other side of the Portal, the four Time Travellers landed in the Enchanted Forest. Unfortunately, that was _all_ that went according to plan.

"Ugh," Regina groaned as she picked herself up. Emma was already up and helping the others to their feet. "What happened?" she asked at their collective dismayed looks. "Did it work? Where, or should I say _when_ are we?"

"We're in the Enchanted Forest," Rumpelstiltskin confirmed.

"But we're in the wrong time!" Zelena screamed, tearing a wanted poster off a nearby tree and threw it at her half-sister. Regina picked it up and looked upon the Snow White wanted poster in mounting horror.

"No, oh no, no, please no," Regina begged. Just as she was starting to put her past behind her, here she was in the middle of it again!

"Well," Emma sighed, stretching, "That didn't work. I'll probably let Gold go first next time. Portal was definitely more stable this time though."

"You know what went wrong?!" Zelena shouted at her.

"Every time the Time Portal is opened," she explained slowly, " _This_ is where and when it leads. I was hoping by having Zelena go first, we might _actually_ get to go somewhere, or just some _when_ else, but," she let out a bigger sigh, hands on her hips, "still end up on the day of my parents first meeting. Well, I've got to go make sure the timeline stays on track. You three, head over to Gold's castle, introduce them to your past self or whatever. I'll take care of getting the Master Fairy Wand so we can get home. Least I've got my Time Portal power now."

"How does my spell equate to a _power_ for you?" the Wicked Witch demanded, lighting her fist on fire.

"Because I'm keeping the Master Fairy Wand, so I can recast the spell over and over as many times as I want," she answered forthright. "Duh!"

Then she vanished in a swirl of white smoke, seconds before a charging cavalry of Black Knights ran through, forcing the other mages to hide, lest they be discovered. Emma returned within the hour, having 'stolen' the pouch of jewels (and ring) after Snow White fell from the tree, disguised _as_ Snow White of course, and tossed her young mother the pouch before she got too far, allowing History to move on with nary a ripple. She then went and got the Master Fairy Wand, and had them all back in the Future before sundown. Which was probably a new record for her personal best, come to think of it.

* * *

Emma was sitting down with her parents and Henry at Granny's Diner, when a golden-hued vortex appeared on the street outside, and Leroy/Grumpy ran in screaming about a curse/invasion/monsters, or the Evil Queen or something else was 'Here!', and honestly the man/dwarf screamed about that kind of stuff so often that it all kind of blurred together over time, despite her work on memory exercises. She and Snow had just returned from the Enchanted Forest the day before, and the 'Welcome Back' party had been last night. The blond sheriff checked her watch and double-checked the date on her phone.

Five seconds later, the same blond woman, wearing different clothes but the same red leather jacket, and carrying a wand, burst into the Diner, startling pretty much everybody there, save for the one sitting with her family.

"Oh good, you're still here," the newly arrived woman said, relieved as she approached their table.

"Uh, Emma?" Snow White called out to her daughter, worried as she suddenly seemed to have more than one.

"Yeah Mom?" they both answered in unison.

"What is going on?" David demanded. "Who are you? You can't be…"

"Short version," the seated Emma told them, finishing off her hot cocoa with cinnamon, "Time travel. She's me from the future. What's up? I didn't think _I'd_ be needed for the Final Battle until almost six tonight. It's only a little after three."

"Yeah, that is still happening by the way," the now sheepishly fidgeting Savior replied. "But, uh… I kind of… need you to _cover_ for me. Just for a day… or three."

Emma, the one being asked the favor of, blinked in surprise before looking up at her future self with a raised eyebrow, silently questioning.

"I… you," she sighed, frustrated as she ran her fingers through her blond mane. "English is a _sucky_ language for discussing time travel with, you know? Just… don't ask for any details, otherwise what is the point, right?"

"And showing up in the middle of the street in broad daylight and bursting into the diner to 'borrow' me for a 'few minutes' wouldn't?" she replied.

"Wait a minute!" Henry called out. "You're from the _future_?!"

"Yes, I am," future-Emma replied.

"And no, she can't!" present-Emma interrupted whatever else he was about to ask her, most likely to take him on a trip through time.

"Actually," a new voice came from the rear of the diner, and a heavy-coat and winter-dressed figure stood up from the booth just behind theirs. She pulled off her wool hat and revealed… _yet another Emma Swan_ , though this one was far paler and had white-blond streaks through her mostly-still yellow-blond hair. "That is what I'm here for."

" _Seriously_?" both of the other Emma's shouted at her.

The older future-Emma shrugged and replied, "It is a quiet day, nothing much going on, and C-uh… You-Know-Who and Whats-His-Name don't make their move until tomorrow night at the earliest."

"I know," present-Emma snapped, drawing everyone's gazes back to her, as they all kept ping-ponging back and forth between all the Emma's. "That is why I chose this day and time to get picked up to help out in the Final Battle. When are you from?" She pointed at the white-blond-streaked Emma.

"Um, _after_ the Final Battle," she shot a significant look at Henry. "It, well it is sort of a Christmas Carol Scrooge thing. You'll find out, and he'll be back before you leave for tonight."

"Wait, so I get to go to the future?!" Henry jumped up, excited.

"You and Regina and one other person that we have to pick up on the way back," she said.

"Awesome!" he quickly made to join the future version of his mother.

"Grab your coat, it's cold," she told him.

"Cold?" the 'youngest' Emma repeated thoughtfully, before her eyes lit up with understanding. "So you're taking _that_ Regina? No wonder she was so receptive to therapy."

"Uh huh," the 'middle' Emma nodded with an unmistakable smirk on her face.

"Oh my god, could you be any more obvious?" she shook her head, shoveled in the last of her food and then stood up.

"Emma, what is going on?" Snow wanted to know.

"I'll, uh, explain later Mom?" she half said to the seated woman and half asked her future counterpart. Who, very unhelpfully, just shrugged her shoulders. "Bye! I'll be back before you know I'm gone!"

And even as they walked out the door, the future-Emma waved the now brightly glowing wand and reopened the golden vortex, while the sound was echoed from somewhere in the back of the diner simultaneously. Ten seconds later, all trace of Emma Swan was gone from Storybrooke. Thirty seconds after that, Sheriff Emma Swan, wearing the same clothes, just slightly more rumpled and a bit dirtier and sans jacket, came from the back where the restrooms were and resumed her seat with her parents, saying, "Hey! What I miss?"

END (4 of 7)


	7. Regina's Loop 2

Regina (Post 100 Loops)

She was in a Storybrooke Loop when everything changed. Counted all together, she'd had roughly one hundred 'Travels' as she personally thought of them. Given that she seemed to alternate each time travel experience between the Enchanted Forest and Storybrooke, she'd had fifty of each by her estimates. Although, this time, she was grateful that she'd come back to the day she adopted Henry rather than Storybrooke's creation as normal.

Emma Swan had brought Henry home last night (she'd found the balance so that Henry, and everyone else, didn't hate and fear the Mayor as much, but that he still _recognized_ her as the Evil Queen from the Book and went to get Emma on his own). Now, she just had to check to make sure that he'd 'disappeared' so she could go and get Ms. Swan out of jail to help her find him.

She opened his bedroom door and glanced inside, barely taking any time at all to confirm that it was empty. But then, something made her stop and turn back to take a longer look. Frowning, she entered the room, arms crossed, and looked over the messy abode in as much detail as she could from her position. Finally she figured out what it was that she'd noticed, even if it was just subconsciously; the window was still open. Every other time she'd lived out this scenario, Henry had closed the window after his escape. Furthermore, his 'rope-ladder' was still hanging off the windowsill.

Confused, she went over and began to reel the knotted cloth back inside, forced to lean out the window in order to get enough of a grip on it. It was in that moment that her world ended.

Henry was on the ground, outside the window, laying unnaturally still, his limbs all askew. And his eyes and mouth were open. There was blood.

"HENRY!" she screamed and then everything dissolved into blind panic after that.

She was late getting to the Sheriff's office, and the only thing that kept her functioning at all was the knowledge that she'd see him again when she Time Traveled again. Or rather, after she traveled to the Enchanted Forest and then back to Storybrooke again. But just being functional didn't mean she wasn't inconsolable.

She didn't understand how this could have happened! Nothing, _nothing_ that she had done had ever caused a change like this. She'd even helped Henry in learning how to climb trees and everything herself. It was why he had a _rope-ladder_ rather than a length of knotted sheets!

Though it was late, and Ms. Swan… Emma had been in the jail cell for most of the day, Regina couldn't stand to face this tragedy, however temporary, on her own. It was just after noon, quarter-til-one, that she walked into the Sheriff's office. It was just Sheriff Graham and Emma Swan there now, they'd just finished lunch, Granny's Take-Out by appearances. Most likely the Sheriff's treat, and judging from the fading smiles on their faces, she'd just interrupted whatever passed for flirting between the two of them.

"Madam Mayor," the Sheriff started to speak, but stopped himself when he saw the look on her face. "Are… is everything alright? I've never… You, I… Has something happened? I, uh, I didn't get a call or anything, and…"

She caught a brief glimpse of herself in the reflection of the glass around his office. She was still dressed as though heading into City Hall for the day, business pantsuit, expensive cashmere coat, designer purse hanging by the strap from one shoulder. Except… the coat looked like it had been thrown on haphazardly, her blouse was untucked and there was mud and grass stains on her pants. Oh, and then there was also the blood stains. Mostly around her sleeves and hands. That was nothing to the look on her face, her hair utterly disheveled, and whatever makeup she had on was ruined from all the crying she'd been doing.

Facing forward, she only spared a glance on the Sheriff, silently warning him not to get in her way, as she focused all of her attention on the caged blond.

"Get her out of that cell, Sheriff," her voice croaked, further evidence of the state of her emotions. "Now!" she added needlessly when he didn't move fast enough.

"What happened? What's going on?" Emma asked, stepping out of the cell the moment the door was opened, already putting her red leather jacket back on. "Mrs. Mills, I…"

She didn't let her say another word, rushing forward and grabbing her fellow mother in a bone-crunching embrace, and then she stopped holding back the tears and started crying all over again. Between the sobs, she let them both know, "He's dead. Henry. He's dead. Fell out… of his window… And it's all my fault!"

It took them awhile to get the whole story out of her, and after hearing the shocking news, Emma was certainly not about to push the inconsolate woman away. Eventually though, she told them everything. Well, not _everything_ -everything! She wasn't about to risk being put in the asylum, no matter the hold she had on the town, losing her son in such a tragic accident, it would be easy for people to say she'd lost her mind to some fantasy or warped vision of reality due to her grief.

What was more surprising, especially to her, was that Emma didn't immediately take off after the funeral. She wasn't sure what it was that had made Henry's biological mother stay, the woman that constantly ran away from everything, until finally getting over her hangups about family, but apparently she wanted some kind of closure.

For maybe like, ten seconds, she'd considered the option that Emma blamed her for Henry's death, but that was fine. Regina was already blaming herself as it was, and would feel entirely vindicated if another agreed with her. It might actually be enough to get her to take that final step and risk a stint in Hades' domain if it meant she could Time Travel that much sooner.

As the days, and then weeks passed, filled with slowly packing away every piece of Henry's life, spending each and every one of those days crying at least once, Regina finally had a wake-up call of sorts. Emma, they were on a first name basis again (three years early!), came over one evening to her house. The blond, almost in a mirror of the original timeline, had been recruited as a Deputy by the sheriff and moved in with an equally-inconsolable teacher. She'd been drinking, and judging by the bottle of scotch and glasses in hand she was intent upon continuing to do so, though with a drinking buddy it would appear.

"What are you doing here, Emma?" she asked.

Walking inside as though invitation had already been given, and honestly it sort of had for a while, Emma replied, "I'm here," she giggled, "to drown _our_ sorrows away. And maybe because Mary Margaret threw me out until I sobered up. Do you know what happened today? Do you _wanna_ know what happened today?" she slur-asked as she poured them both a couple sips of the scotch.

"Something tells me that I'll be in even a worse state than you are after you tell me, so," she grabbed the drink and downed the alcohol in one gulp, wincing as it burned its way down her esophagus, "Go ahead, Emma. Tell me what happened today."

"I laughed," she slurred, before taking a more cautious swallow of her own glass.

"... At what?" Regina was confused.

"At something that I don't even remember why I laughed in the first place for… with… at?" she shook her head and plopped down in her chair. "I was just… living in the moment, I guess. But… after, I got to thinking, just a thought, in and outta my head like every-thin else; Henry woulda _loved_ hearin' that. I…" Tears pooled in the blond's green eyes. (Were they always _green_? Regina asked herself)

"I knew him for _six hours_! SIX! I didn't even hold him as a baby, 'Gina! Cause I knew, if I'd'a held him, I wouldn't've given him up! How the hell would I know what he'd've loved to hear? What jokes he found funny? Where he was ticklish…" the tears began to overtake her ability to speak clearly.

Regina began to cry in sympathy, and placed herself alongside the distraught deputy. They were soon hugging and crying in each other's arms. Missing their son.

Eventually, the tears dried up, and the alcohol ran out, and Regina made the first mistake of the evening.

"Did Henry tell you about his little theory?" she asked.

"Huh?" Emma grunted, on the verge of dozing.

"About the Curse?" Regina reiterated, clearly using capital letters from the phrasing.

"Oh yeah," she giggled, more drunk than actually amused. "Everybody's a fairy tale character, trapped by the Evil Queen. Yeah, kid had an imagination alright."

"It's true," she confessed. "And… I _am_ the Evil Queen."

Emma stopped giggling.

"And you are the Savior," she said right before finishing the very last of the scotch. "The daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. Sent to this world ahead of the Curse, meant to break it and bring back the Happy Endings."

"Why are you doing this?" Emma's tone was dark, warning.

"Because I'm drunk," Regina shrugged. "And because I don't really have a reason to fight you. I want the stupid Curse broken as much as Henry… did. And it seemed fitting that, before this whole thing… ends, that I should try and fulfill his final wish."

"... You're crazy," she stated, as though only realizing it at that moment.

"Henry's father told you his name was Neal Cassidy," Regina recited from memory. "You two met committing a simultaneous felony, both of you stealing the same car. He left you holding the loot from some job you pulled together, and you went to prison rather than give him up. Before that, you were in the system. The closest you ever came to being adopted was by a woman named Ingrid, who wanted to be your 'big sister' or something. You had a best friend, sort of, named Lily…"

"Stop it," Emma snapped. "You… investigated me. You had to, after I showed up, I…"

"Ingrid is the owner of the local ice cream parlor," Regina stated. "Lily is in a trailer park about thirty miles southwest of here. Oh, and the boy that found you on the side of the road, when you were 'abandoned'? He calls himself August, and he should be riding into town on a motorcycle any day now."

"How the hell do you…?!" Emma stopped herself from shouting, but only just.

"You once told me that you chose the name 'Swan' because a young man talked you into going back to the System rather than stay out on the streets, and he read the story about the Ugly Duckling to you," Regina shared.

Emma tensed, and hissed, "I never told _anybody_ about that!"

Regina met her angry gaze and responded, "Then how could I know about it? Investigators can only do so much, Emma. So either, I'm the Evil Queen and I used my magic to figure out all your secrets, or I'm secretly a time traveler and we've known each other for years. Only, this time, somehow Henry died, when he was supposed to live." She got up. "I'm getting us some more drinks. Probably shouldn't mix cider with scotch, but I'm not nearly drunk enough yet."

Emma was gone when she got back.

The next night, she showed up with beer.

"So," the off-duty-deputy questioned after they were each three-sheets to the wind, "the Curse is real?"

"Yep!" Regina popped her lips on the last syllable.

"How do we break it?" she was asked. "I'm only askin' cause of Henry, y'know?"

"The same way all curses get broken in the stories," she sighed. "True Love's Kiss."

"Hnh," she grunted. "What the hell does that even mean? I mean, who's to say what is and isn't 'true love' and why should it matter? There are lots of different kinds of love, know what I'm saying?"

"Well, _if_ I were a time traveler," the drunk Mayor pointed out, "And I lived through all this before, with Henry still alive, then I could tell you that you usually wind up breaking the Curse by kissing Henry when he's about to die from some poisoned apple turnover. Mother and son, there's no truer love as far as I care."

"Well, what about sisters?" Emma inexplicably asked.

"What? You mean siblings? I… suppose," Regina shrugged. "There's this one pair of sisters, you'd almost think they were twins, cept one has ice magic and the other is like _stupidly_ optimistic about everything. Why?"

"Well, what about two women," Emma sat up and faced Regina proper, "who have a lot in common, or even just… one thing, and there is a lot of affection and subtext-y type stuff between them? Isn't there some kind of… Friendship-kind-of-love?"

"If there is, I've never seen it," Regina confessed, completely missing the other woman's subtle hints. "For something like that, for it to count as 'True Love', it would have to be a relationship so close that they would have to be willing to not only die for one another, but also… _live_ for each other. Be willing to kill for the other. To do absolutely anything, for each other. I can't even imagine a friendship that close. Not and see them stay Just Friends, as the saying goes."

"So, True Love doesn't have to automatically mean that they're lovers?" she asked for clarity.

"Any kind of love, in this world or any other, is hard enough to find as it is," Regina replied. "True Love is rarer still. It means that their hearts beat only for one another. Of course, it doesn't mean they're all constantly lovey-dovey. Fact of life, people fight, they disagree, but the level of trust, of pure emotion behind one another… Well, let's just say that there is a very good reason for why it is known as the most powerful magic of all."

Emma was silent for the rest of the night.

She came back each night for the rest of the week, not _always_ with an alcoholic beverage. Then, that Saturday, she came early in the day and somehow talked the shut-in Mayor out of her house and dragged her down out to the forest. Specifically to a clearing just beyond view of the park, where she'd set up an actual picnic on a checkered blanket.

"What is all this, Emma?" she asked, surprised.

As surprised as she was, Emma Swan was clearly far more nervous, for some inexplicable reason the Mayor could not deduce. Fortunately, Deputy Swan was far more direct and had no definition for the word 'subtlety' in her vocabulary.

"It's a date," Emma said. "I am surprising you with a romantic picnic for two. I am taking you on a date. Right now. So, if you want to like, slap me and run off, now would probably be the time. Because I'm not sure how the whole, leading-each-other-on, would affect the whole 'True Love Kiss' if we're both serious about breaking the Curse. For Henry's sake."

Regina blinked and did quite a number of double-takes between the picnic set up and her… 'date'. Ultimately, she merely nodded her head once and sat down on the blanket and asked, "So, Ms. Swan, what is first on the menu?"

Smiling brightly, Emma sat down and began pulling out food from the basket. "Well, Ms. Mills, I actually don't know. I went to Granny's and had Ruby throw stuff together for us. Just told her to put in all of your favorites. The bottle of wine was my only contribution."

"Hm," Regina smiled for what felt like the first time in years. "You're off to an excellent start. So, after our meal, what else did you have planned for this… date?"

Saturday soon became the new 'couple's' Date-Day. Sometimes they went out at night, but most often they spent the whole day together. There was no kissing, some hugging, a lot of sharing and having fun, but no kissing. They went out for a few months, during which it seemed everything else that 'normally' happened during Emma's first year in Storybrooke, minus the cave-in at the mine or framing Mary Margaret for Katherine Nolan's "murder", somehow occurred all on its own without Regina doing anything to help or hinder the events.

And then, without her having even realized it, it was time. On some level, Regina could feel it, the Curse was days, if not hours, away from ending. Meaning she was days or hours away from Traveling back to the Enchanted Forest, and then only a handful of years after that from seeing Henry again!

But, she also felt, for the first time in _years_ , that spark of overwhelming emotion. That pure, unadulterated passion for another human being. She hadn't felt that for Robin, despite occasionally still meeting and enjoying company with the noble thief, in ages! In all honesty, she hadn't truly felt it, to this degree, since she was a young woman, courting the Stable Boy on the sly. And the mere thought of having that ripped away from her almost as soon as she got it terrified her as much, if not more, than the thought of never seeing Henry again, as terrible as that was to say.

Regina didn't know what to do.

Fortunately, or not, Emma took the decision out of her hands, as she often did.

"Hi!" Emma exclaimed upon arriving at the Mayor's office, closing the door behind her.

"Hey," Regina smiled at the perky blond before turning her attention back to the paperwork. Perhaps if she hadn't she would've caught wind of what her girlfriend was planning at that moment.

"So, I've come to a decision," she announced, coming up to the desk.

"Uh huh," Regina grunted her acknowledgment. "About what we're having for dinner? What movie to watch on Netflix tonight? What decision have you come to that you had to tell me immediately, Deputy Swan?"

Rather than answer with her words, Emma rushed around to her side of the desk, spun her around in her chair and grabbed the black-haired woman by the neck so they were face-to-face.

"I've decided that I love you, Regina Mills," she said. "I'm _in love_ with you. And I only just figured it out like… ten minutes ago."

"Emma… I…" her voice caught in her throat, wanting to affirm her own affections for the petite woman, but the words couldn't come.

"I don't need you to say it back," she went on. "Love is selfless, after all. I just wanted you to know as soon as _I_ knew."

Then she kissed her.

Or, to be honest about it, they kissed each other.

A wave of light and force exploded out in all directions from the point of contact between their lips. Neither of them really noticed until they finally pulled away from one another. They each, of course, had very different reactions to the event.

"Wow," Emma had a goofy grin on her face, slowly reaching up to touch her lips.

"Oh crap," Regina threw her head back and closed her eyes, knowing what was soon to come. She was just grateful that by sundown she'd be back in the Enchanted Forest. She honestly wasn't sure _how_ to deal with Snow and Charming now, especially when it became clear that she was dating and in a relationship with their daughter. Or to be more accurate, only _part_ of her was grateful. The majority, at that moment, was filled with dread and panic as she would soon be taken away from her True Love. _Again_!

On the other hand, it was only a matter of time until she saw Henry again.

* * *

Henry had died. The very last time that she'd Time-Traveled to Storybrooke, that is. And then the unthinkable had happened. She'd… _fallen in love_ with the Savior, Emma Swan! Her _best friend_! And… they'd fallen in love with each other, over the death of their shared son, and then broken the First Curse with _True Love's Kiss_!

Quite honestly, after the whirlwind of those last few hours after the Curse has broken and Emma revealed to her newly uncursed parents that she was in love with their mortal enemy, well… she was looking forward to some time as the 'Evil Queen', so she could properly vent her grief and frustrations and… confusion.

Unfortunately, whatever was controlling this back-and-forth-thru-time thing had dropped her off shortly into her marriage under King Leopold, and barely a year into her training under Rumpelstiltskin. In fact, judging from her position on the highest balcony of the castle, it was the night she met-

Regina's thoughts were interrupted as the balcony ledge gave way beneath her and she was suddenly falling… falling like Henry had. Fitting, she mused, closing her eyes, anxious to get back to her son.

Right before impact, however, she felt a tug, and then suddenly she wasn't falling anymore. Opening her eyes, she saw her body surrounded by a cloud of green magic, but not like her sister's, or some of the varieties of dark magic she knew of. No, this was the green of the forest, of fresh leaves from the trees. Looking for the source, she saw the Green Fairy, fluttering right by her head.

"Let me go!" she cried out. The tug got stronger and she felt herself going back up. "What are you doing?!"

"Giving you a second chance," the glowing green-clad fairy replied, before waving her wand more emphatically and they both were flying up to the balcony at speed.

Within moments, Regina was standing on solid ground once again, and the fairy was growing Big from a cloud of green fairy dust. With a shrug and a wiggle, her wings retracted, and then it was just a shorter young blond woman in a bejeweled green dress.

"Who do you think you are?" the black-haired queen demanded, although there was too much grief for her rage to properly express itself.

"I'm Tinkerbell," the blond answered with an impish grin.

Regina blinked and shook her head. She had to come back on _this_ night? Seriously?

Robin…

Regina almost gagged, not from feeling sick, but to hold back the cry of anguish as she realized that if Tinkerbell's trick with the Fairy Dust lead her right back to Robin Hood in that tavern… what did that mean for her and Emma?

She could not deal with this right now!

"Are you alright?" Tink asked, concerned at the look on the queen's face.

Regina briefly glanced back at broken railing of her balcony. It would be so easy, so simple. A single sentence and the fairy would be powerless to stop her. And then she could be back in Storybrooke, back with Henry and… _Emma_.

What would that say about her, though? What would Emma think of her, if she ever found out?

Regina frowned and turned her back on the balcony, and the fairy. No, she was not a coward, and she would not take the easy way out of this. She would just have to find some other way to be reunited with her family. With her… True Love…

Suddenly, she was looking at Tinkerbell in a whole new light and with greater appreciation than she'd ever had before. Racing forward, she embraced the now-thoroughly-startled Big fairy, and whispered, "Thank you. Oh, thank you, thank you, _thank you_ , Tinkerbell! You just saved my life!"

"It's what fairies do," she shrugged helplessly, still trapped in the hug. "We help people."

"Well, that is perfect then," Regina said, pulling back out of the hug and smiling genuinely at the young and naive fairy. "Because I need your help."

"Obviously," Tink laughed, gesturing to the broken balcony.

Regina shook her head. "No, not with that. Though I am grateful. I need your help to be reunited with my True Love."

"... Say what now?"

Later that morning, seeing as it had been after midnight, she met Tink at an out-of-the-way public restaurant. Even though it wasn't called that, but it was the closest approximation that the Enchanted Forest had. The way this conversation had originally gone, Regina had wallowed in her self-pity, blamed all her woes on Snow White, and Tinkerbell had done everything in her power to encourage the queen to be happy, to try and find happiness again, to not give up hope.

That was not how _this_ conversation went.

"Now, what exactly is it that you think I can help you with?" Tink asked, after they'd finished their meal and were now nursing drinks. "And, what was that about your True Love? Aren't you-"

" _Shhh_!" Regina shushed her.

"Aren't you married to the King?" she continued at a much lower volume. "Isn't that what every princess, every girl really, wants in the end? To marry so they can become queen someday?"

"If that were true, you fairies would have a lot less to do," Regina bitterly commented. "Popularity, fame, or riches do not-always-equate to 'happiness', Tinkerbell. I… had happiness once. For a time. It… it's a complicated story. But. It, unfortunately, ends with me being separated from the people that I truly, truly love. And, while I know Rumpelstiltskin, and he is powerful, I know that he cannot reunite me with them any time soon. So, I'm hoping that the fairies _might_."

"How do you think we can do that?" Tink asked, curious, but cautious.

"What do you know about me? My reputation, my history, my… story?"

"Not much, I'm afraid," she shrugged. "You are the queen of the Enchanted Forest. And, there might be a rumor or two, just amongst the Fairies, that you are the apprentice of the Dark One…"

"That's all you know about me?" Regina said, surprised. "Well then, let's just say that, fairy or not, you can't believe everything that you hear. Now, unless there is some place that you have to be," she paused significantly, as she recalled the (numerous) time(s) Tinkerbell had to rush off after some kind of alarm went off, "let me tell you my story."

"No, I don't have to be anywhere else," Tink quickly assured her. "At least, nowhere more important than this. And besides, I've got…" she trailed off as she pulled out a crystal on a chain like it was an 'old-fashioned' fog watch. "Oh no! I'm going to be late!"

"Then, how about we meet up in the Fairy Circle just outside the Palace Gardens?" Regina suggested. "I have nothing but time on my hands, and the only place I'm _allowed_ outside the palace walls is the garden to attend to my apple tree. I still want that favor, Ms. Bell. And one would imagine that having someone to vouch for your actions would… alleviate any punishment that may come from our interactions today."

"Uh, OK, how about sundown? At the edge of the palace gardens, on the East side?" she suggested, even as she hurried up and away from the group of humans around them.

"I'll be there," Regina nodded, not getting up, fully intent on ordering some more food. It wasn't Granny's, but it was better than the rabbit food she got under the King's thumb. She watched as Tinkerbell ran off and right as she reached the road, dissolved into a cloud of green fairy dust, before taking off as a winged ball of gold and green light.

Now all she had to do was convince 'Green' to help convince the Blue Fairy to grant her an audience and brainstorm over ways of either getting her to Storybrooke sooner, or getting Emma and Henry back here to the 'past', preferably without forcing her to actually *become* the Evil Queen, nor kill her father.

Come to think of it… if she was in love with Emma Swan, and their son was the one she loved 'the most'... how could she possibly cast the Dark Curse at all? If Rocinante's heart hadn't worked the first time, and she'd loved that horse more than anything else in her life, then _*now*_ , since she had even greater loves in her life, would her father's Heart even work anymore?

And all of a sudden, a question that she'd had for ages, but never really understood, presented the answer to her. Why _had_ Rumpelstiltskin chosen her? Why had he manipulated things so thoroughly, helping Snow and her _Charming_ True Love here and there, and always advising her in ways that ended up making her push away every potential human connection in her life, thereby guaranteeing she would have almost nobody in her life that she could say she truly loved? The answer lay there in the question; he needed her to be *able* to cast his Curse, and to do that, she needed to have only one, single, clear 'thing she loved the most' in her life. Her last remaining family.

"Hi, I'm going to need a lot of mead, and pretty much anything that you have in stock that make people very drunk, and very brave when they're drunk," she requested of the server.

* * *

Henry was alive! More than that, he was Time Traveling too! Or, _Looping_ as he and Emma apparently called it.

That sort of grated on her nerves, for about ten seconds before she let the joy of having Henry back in her life, and knowing there was an Emma Swan out there that _remembered_!

"Tell me everything," she said to her son, arms crossing as she stood before him in the kitchen. This particular… 'Loop', she'd Awoken on Henry's 10th birthday rather than all the way back at Storybrooke's founding, or even the day she got him.

"Can we have breakfast first?" he asked, sounding more like his teenaged/young adult self rather than the typical respectful, yet imaginative, ten-year-old she recalled him to be at this age. Just further proof that he was 'older' than his appearance allotted for.

"Explain," she demanded, then compromised, "While I fix us up something. As I'm sure you know, I already have your cake on order, so we'll need to save room for the party."

"I haven't had a birthday party since I was _six_ , Mom!" he whined. Definitely teenage behavior. "Not even when Gramma and Gramps are… were… are? Whatever. Even with all of our family together, I think the most we ever did for my birthday was a big family dinner. Besides, who could I possibly invite in _Cursed Storybrooke_?"

"Explanation!" she insisted, side-stepping his arguments with the ease of a practiced politician and experienced mother.

He sighed and rolled his eyes at her. Suddenly she was missing the 'typical' ten-year-old Henry she was used to during these… what did he call them? Oh yes; Time Loops. Ah well, a bit of grief was worth it to have her _real son_ back.

"First off," he began, sounding serious for the first time since waking up, "I feel I owe you an apology. I think my _first_ actual Loop, I sort of Woke Up in the middle of climbing out of my window, probably to go find Ma… Emma. All I remember about that was being surprised, then I missed the next branch, or didn't reach far enough or just plain slipped. Then I fell, and heard a loud crack, and next thing I know after that, I'm Waking Up again, only I'm already at the playground castle, and Emma is walking up to take me back home."

"It's… OK for you to call her 'Mom', Henry," Regina said softly, finishing up with the platter of bacon and eggs, and started buttering their toast. "She _is_ your mother too. And quite honestly, I miss her. She's… well, not my _only_ friend, but one of the best I've ever had."

"Yeah, she… kind of feels the same way?" he said uncertainly, eating.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she demanded, hands moving to hips automatically.

"I am _not_ having a conversation about my two mothers' _relationship_!" he put his foot down, metaphorically speaking.

Regina spun back around before the blush could fully color her cheeks, so Henry wouldn't notice. Although, his statement did draw some… interesting conclusions within the recesses of her own mind.

"So," she said, quickly moving on, "what can you tell me about these time loop things?"

"Well, that's the odd thing," Henry mumbled around his bite of toast. "It's only my… third loop, I want to say. But Ma, she said she's been through just over a hundred Loops now. And for her, they last until one of us, any member of her immediate family, including you by the way Mom, dies permanently. The only exceptions seem to be Granma and Granpa, but only _after_ I supposedly have kids of my own. With me, everything kind of… ended? Cut off? I don't know, I just know that when I went to sleep after the victory dinner after defeating the Black Fairy, I woke up in my bed a few minutes ago."

"Another thing," he continued, "She always, _always_ wakes up, or her Loop starts, on her first full day in Storybrooke, in the jail cell next to Leroy, right after the night she first brought me back home. I know it is only my third loop, but I've Awoken at different points each time now, and only today has it been waking from actual sleep. The other two times, I was in the middle of different activities, already conscious and everything."

"Has she noticed any other inconsistencies?" Regina asked, sitting down with her own morning meal.

"She hates Peter Pan," he stated forthright. "And Mom? I mean she _hates_ him! Think about when you really, really, _really_ hated Granma. Now see if you can imagine her as the villain and you as the hero, and you still keep losing, and have it happen over a hundred times in a row. The only way Ma has figured out how to beat him is the way we originally did it, with me being tricked into giving him my Heart, so he thinks he's won, and then tripping him up at the finish line, so to speak."

"Not an ideal situation, no matter how you look at it," Regina agreed. "My situation is… slightly different, but no doubt just as complicated."

"What do you mean?" he asked, after swallowing the last of his breakfast.

"My first… Loop, which I had been thinking of as 'Time Travel', I wound up back at the moment of Storybrooke's founding, and I was stuck here for twenty-eight years. And then, you and Emma broke the curse, and then Gold released magic… and then I found myself back in the Enchanted Forest, right outside the barn where my mother killed Daniel. Since then, I keep alternating back and forth between my time here in Storybrooke, always under the first curse, and my life back in the Enchanted Forest. With no set start or endpoints. Sometimes the loop ends right as magic is returning after the First Curse is broken, sometimes it is after we defeat the Black Fairy, or any time in between, whether we defeat the villain of the week or not. Same for my time in the Enchanted Forest, it could start at any point of my life there, and then abruptly end, whether I cast the Dark Curse or not. The only consistent thing about it is that I alternate every other loop, so next loop I'll be in the Enchanted Forest, and the loop after that I'll be back here in Storybrooke. And… every time I've met her, Emma Swan has been the same idiot bounty hunter that showed up with you on my doorstep. I'm starting to fear that I would begin to forget my friend, but… somehow, the memories of what I think of as the original timeline, they're intact and easy to recall."

"Huh," he grunted, leaning back. "That's kinda weird actually. Ma has actually started working on improving her memory. Like… _a lot_! She's doing all sorts of memory exercises and being hyper-observant of everything around her. She tried to teach me some of the same stuff, but I never got very far before the Loop reset. Then again, she said that she only started doing that because somehow, despite the whole Time Loop and remembering the 'past' and 'future' and everything, when we get sent to New York, her memories, except for her time in New York, all get blocked. So, I think she's trying to find some way of keeping her memories in spite of the magic or curse or whatever."

"There's a potion, and True Love's Kiss, of course," Regina remarked, "but I've never heard of someone breaking a memory curse through sheer force of will before. But then again, this is Ms. Swan we're talking about, so if anyone _could_ do it, it would have to be the Savior."

"So," she got up and brought their empty dishes over to the sink and began rinsing them, "is there anything else about the situation that I need to be made aware of? Any other tidbits of information that may be relevant later on?"

"I could tell you what all happened when I was with Emma," he shrugged. "But, no, nothing else about the Time Loops themselves. Sounds like you've got a different sort of Loop situation than either one of us have to deal with anyway. Hey, have you ever been Awake, in the Enchanted Forest, during that time Ma went through the Wicked Witch's time portal and changed the past?"

Regina froze on the spot, searching her memory, her eyes flicking back and forth rapidly. Then they went wide as the realization hit her.

"No," she confessed. "I… never have. But then… I don't think I ever paid attention during those… Loops, before."

"..." Henry frowned. "Maybe I should teach you those memory and observation techniques that Ma was trying to teach me?"

* * *

The very next time Regina was in the Enchanted Forest, during the early parts of her 'Evil Queen' days, she started utilizing every resource at her disposal to research every method possible to overcome or counteract Memory Spells. She also made sure to keep an eye out, so to speak, for any sign of Emma traveling back in time with Hook or anybody else. Not that she remembered the event from her own perspective, but she did recall _when_ it was that Emma and Hook told the rest of them Zelena's portal had sent them to.

Of course, a further detractor from her easy recall of the events was that Emma had 'brought back' Robin's wife and mother of his child, Maid Marion. That it was secretly Zelena in disguise was neither here nor there, it just meant that Regina didn't like thinking about it and therefore couldn't remember it as well as some other things.

As far as she could tell, and she made sure to pay attention, everything happened the way it 'originally' had. No time travel, no 'Princess Leia & Prince Charles', no burning Snow at the stake only for her to escape at the last second.

It was somewhat frustrating that her only link to her Best Friend was their shared son, and the rest of the time they were left with mere shadows of the other. People that could not remember all the various adventures they went on, their interactions… their relationship. Things that Regina absolutely refused to discuss with her son, no matter how desperate she was to share her feelings on the matter.

Nevertheless, she'd caught all the hints that Henry, and through him, Emma were throwing her way. She needed to do more than just 'enjoy herself' in the multitude of chances to replay her life over and over again. She needed to prepare and seek out ways of improving not just her life, but herself. She needed to step up and be ready for whenever she and Emma could once more stand side-by-side. According to Henry, Emma was actually spending most of her first two years in Storybrooke attending 'magic lessons' with herself, the Snow Queen, Jefferson, and sometimes even Gold and Maleficent. And that was only the beginning, because during their shared Loop, Henry reported that Emma had actually been taking night classes and correspondence courses in a multitude of subjects, earning full degrees in all of them. All _before_ spending a year in New York City!

In other words, Regina needed to catch up.

All of her 'education' and knowledge of the 'Real World' mostly came from the Curse, implanting memories and knowledge as needed. She'd done some independent study of her own in her free time, but for the most part she'd been reliant upon the magic she had cast. She decided that she didn't like that and would no longer be satisfied with just that. And if Emma Swan, of all people, could give herself a complete education and earn whole degrees in the handful of years she had to work with in her own loops, then Regina should easily be able to outstrip her, seeing as she had eighteen full years, and then another ten as a single mother. But that was on the Storybrooke side of the timeline. And there was plenty for her to do on the Enchanted Forest side of things as well.

* * *

"You want to _what_?" the gold-scaled and wiry-haired Dark One queried his newest student.

"Did I stammer?" Regina couldn't help letting a bit of the 'Evil Queen' shine through in times of stress, probably why Emma had a better time of training herself and making friends to help her out. Still, the black-haired sorceress would make good on her promise to use her time in the Enchanted Forest to train up and improve herself and her abilities. If Emma could improve her magic in the year before the Curse was broken, essentially in the World Without Magic, then certainly Regina could surpass her in no time at all, seeing as the Enchanted Forest was filled to the brim with magic of all sorts.

"I want to learn the more… subtler sides of magic," Regina repeated her request to Rumpelstiltskin. "Just last week you told me that I was a natural at all of this, these cantrips and simple spells you've been having me practice. I'm not asking for the big spells, but maybe something that isn't _just_ about destruction and domination? For example, what about memory spells, curses, charms and the like?"

"Yes," the embodiment of all dark magic preened, his long, talon fingers tapping the bottom of his scaly chin as he regarded her, "I did say that. Almost as though you've been doing them for years. Still, a bit of refinement never hurt? Hmhmhmhmhm-hmm," He suddenly giggled, clapping his hands. "Tell you what, Dearie! Show me, right here, right now, that you can _flawlessly_ pull off every spell that I have taught you, and then, oh I don't know, _Surprise Me_! And do something…" the Dark One leered and his hands dropped open so they were very much like a raptor's talons as it went in for the kill, " _Imaginative._ And next week, I'll have a whole new lesson plan for you. _Subtler_ spells, as you put it, Dearie. Now, Begin!"

Obviously getting the _Dark One_ to teach her _different_ magic was going to take a lot more work than just asking, she privately fumed. Nevertheless, she recognized that he had not said 'No', but she was entirely unprepared for this test. Which, she figured, was the point.

She proceeded to demonstrate each and every spell she'd learned 'to date', the same as she'd been performing them for * _years_ * by this point. From the frown and familiar look of dark glee in his eyes, she already knew she wasn't passing this test. Was she really doing it all _wrong_?

Or, she contemplated as she finished up, was there something in what he had said?

Refinement. That was the word he'd used. Maybe it wasn't that she was doing the spells _wrong_ per se, but that she was just being _sloppy,_ to turn a phrase. For the final task, doing something 'imaginative', she merely pulled out one of the spells that she'd actually practiced, if only to make sure he didn't trap her as an old peasant woman again; changing her appearance.

"Hmhmhmhm-hmm," he gave off that close-mouthed giggle he was so… infamous for after seeing her change into his twin, and then change back with a swirl of purple smoke. "Someone's been reading ahead," he said, amused.

The amusement abruptly and drastically shifted in a heartbeat (as it was wont to do around the Dark One), as he growled at her, "But I said to do something _imaginative_. Not showing off that you picked up a trick or two through independent study. If you are serious about this, Dearie, we'll try again next week. In the meantime," he pointed to the 'just-appeared' tools by her boudoir, "let's continue with _this_ week's intended lesson."

Rather than rage against the inevitable, or sneer and argue that she'd done things perfectly, Regina merely nodded her head contemplatively, her thoughts already racing through all that she'd done, and what her teacher had asked of her. The answer was as obvious as it was simple. She needed to practice.

Fortunately, she had plenty of time on her hands.

* * *

Regina, as an old beggar woman-really just a glamour spell-shook her head in utter disgust as the inept Black Knights took her prisoner and prepared to immediately execute her for a 'public disgrace against the Queen' that she'd actually been trying to stop. At least now she knew how to undo the glamour, but she didn't do so now. Because she knew what was coming.

Still, just in case Snow was late, or unwilling to help out this one time, she made ready to reveal herself and magically defend against all attacks at a moments notice.

"You are going to kill me just because I was trying to defend the Queen you serve?!" she 'struggled' as they lead her up to the chopping block. "What about my right to a trial? You can't just kill me because you feel like it!"

"We're Knights of the realm, granny," the one holding her bound arms back and driving her forward said. "We can do whatever the hell we want!"

"That is not true, and when I get back to the palace, you two shall know my displeasure," she said as regally as possible under the circumstances. The fact that they heard it as a senile old woman's ramblings probably didn't help much.

"I'm liking her less and less," the one in the lead remarked. "Let's cut off her head."

Reminded all too well of her mother's role in Wonderland, and the Queen of Heart's infamous line that she was most well known for, Regina paled and silently vowed to abolish decapitation as an execution practice starting that very day.

"SOMEBODY!" she screamed as her head was forced down on the chopping block and the other knight raised the axe with no preamble whatsoever. "HELP ME!"

Fortunately, Snow was up to the task, today at least.

… Regina didn't like thinking about the Loops that ended abruptly when she _wasn't_.

She heard the ' _thwik_ ' of the arrow striking the knight in the shoulder and suddenly she wasn't being held down any longer. Rolling backwards on the platform (without falling off… this time), Regina freed her hands and got to her feet, just in time to see the hooded Snow charge up the stairs and enter combat with the other black knight. There was a rapid exchange of blades and a lot of kicking done by Snow, but it was largely a blur to the disguised Evil Queen. The injured knight tried to get in on the fight, but Snow saw him coming and kicked him back, even as she embedded her sword in the chopping block to block the first knight's heavy swing.

The unfortunate consequence of which was that the injured knight knocked Regina off the platform in his flailing to keep from doing the same. Fortunately, Regina hadn't just been training her magic in all this time. Mostly at Henry-slash-Emma's insistence. As she fell, she twisted her body to orient herself and slapped the ground as she rolled up to her feet all in a single fluid motion. Little known fact, unless you have like crazy superhuman strength, or supernatural powers that let you change how gravity affects you, it can actually injure your body more to 'land on your feet' than it is to fall to the ground and roll with the momentum.

As she watched on from the ground, the cloaked Snow proceeded to disable and defeat the two Black Knights, knocking them from the platform with seeming ease. And then she had the gall to stand there and pose dramatically as she removed her hood, revealing to all who had just defied and fought two knights of the realm.

Regina knew that if she 'fainted', she would find herself waking up in Snow's little hideout and there would be a chance to go on a little adventure together and she'd see that Snow didn't really hate her and all that other stuff. She also, after having done this a few times now, knew what would happen if she 'attacked' Snow, 'fangirl'ed' her, and generally didn't faint. Time to try something new…

"Snow…" the old woman gasped out. "Oh, my dearest Snow, can it really be you?"

By this point, the hero had climbed down and was close enough to hear. A kind, yet confused look graced her porcelain face as she approached the 'old woman' and asked, "I'm sorry, do I know you? Did you used to work at the castle with my Father?"

"Your father, yes," she nodded, staying in character. "My husband, your father, yes! Oh, my precious Snow White…"

"I'm… sorry?"

"It's me!" Regina began to act frantic. "Oh, but you can't recognize me. I'm so sorry, my dear Snow. It's the curse. I was cursed, by that witch… _Cora_! She cursed me, made everyone believe I was dead, but…"

"Cora… but, no!" Snow gasped, hand over her heart in shock.

Around them the crowd was silent, watching. Television didn't exist in the Enchanted Forest, and you couldn't _pay_ for drama this enticing.

"Yes, Snow, it's me," Regina said, reaching out, while tweaking the spell disguising her just a bit so she looked even more like the old 'Good Queen' than she already did. "I'm your mother. I'm still alive. Oh, and I love you so much, my precious Snow White!"

There were a few tears at the back of the crowd. Regina briefly wondered if she should go into acting. Who knows how these people might react to that?

"Mom-Mommy?" tears welled up around Snow's eyes, right before they rolled up in her head and she fainted dead away.

Totally worth it.

* * *

"You want to _what_?" the gold-scaled and wiry-haired Dark One queried his newest student.

"Did I stammer?" she had found that if she didn't show at least a little bit of sass now and then, Rumple would begin to think she was weak and not worth his time.

"I want to learn the more… subtler sides of magic," Regina repeated her request to Rumpelstiltskin. "Just last week you told me that I was a natural at all of this, these cantrips and simple spells you've been having me practice. I'm not asking for the big spells, but maybe something that isn't _just_ about destruction and domination? For example, what about memory spells, curses, charms and the like?"

"Yes," he said to her, "I did say that. Almost as though you've been doing them for years. Still, a touch more refinement couldn't hurt? Hmhmhmhmhm-hmm," He suddenly giggled, clapping his hands. "Tell you what, Dearie! Show me, right here, right now, that you can _flawlessly_ pull off every spell that I have taught you, and then, oh I don't know, _Surprise Me_! And do something…" the Dark One leered and his hands dropped open so they were very much like a raptor's talons as it went in for the kill, " _Imaginative._ And next week, I'll have a whole new lesson plan for you. _Subtler_ spells, as you put it, Dearie. Now, Begin!"

It had taken her the rest of that first 'Forest' Loop where he'd initially laid down this challenge for her to find out what he meant. He didn't want her to show him an advanced spell, she wanted him to show her a way of using her current repertoire of spells in a way that he hadn't shown her how to do. Nevertheless, both for the remainder of that Loop, and then again in the following Storybrooke Loop, Regina worked to… _refine_ her use of magic. Use silent casting, subtler (if any) hand gestures, and cut down on the amount of power she was using to get the same, if not a greater effect. She demonstrated the efforts of that practice here and now, showing off her skills at magic with as much concentration as she could put into it.

When she finished, Rumpelstiltskin was frowning at her.

Startled by this, she allowed the tremor of nervousness, which she'd had to practice and fake (mostly) for the times when she was 'still' a naive young girl, into her voice as she asked him, "D-did I do something wrong?"

"No," he said, his tone far more serious than she was used to, prior to his transition to Gold. "You did everything," he turned away from her, " _perfectly_."

And that was when she knew she'd made a mistake.

She barely had time to get her shield up as the Dark One spun about, blasting her with a huge fireball. "Who are you? Some trick by Cora? The Blind Witch? Or an elaborate ruse by Maleficent, playing at being 'under the weather'? _Well_ , which is it, _witch_?!" he challenged her.

"You know," Regina grunted as she struggled to maintain her shield, speaking sarcastically, "I'm just saying, it might've been nice for you to be outraged because, I don't know, maybe because you thought something had happened to your student. Silly me."

"If you _were_ my student, you'd know better than to show off just how good you really were, Dearie!" he said, no longer holding back. "Now I'm going to have to rework my plans. Oh well! Luckily, _time_ is on my side!"

And then he killed her. Not that she exactly made it easy, but even with all her skill and strength and magic, he was still _The Dark One_. The only chance anyone ever has against a Dark One is by taking advantage of their penchant for making deals and outwitting them.

* * *

It was frightening how easy it had been to get to this point again.

She was meeting Snow White, in the stables of her old family estate, the ' _poisoned_ ' apple rolling back and forth between her hands as she waited. It really wasn't that difficult, to 'follow the script' to use a turn of phrase.

She'd made promises of suffering and vengeance upon the young man that had betrayed him to King George, putting 'Prince Charming' into her custody. She'd delivered her ultimatum to Snow, the life of her True Love for her own. She'd even played the role of 'Evil Queen' to the hilt, save for one glaring difference. She'd traded one kind of evil for another.

Rather than allow her wrath to consume her and killing hundreds of people and taking the Hearts of even more, she made them fear her for another reason entirely. Anyone that angered the Evil Queen wasn't _killed_ , but rather enslaved. Made to work tirelessly and almost cruelly to acquire her more and more _stuff_!

Not gold, or jewels or anything, no. That would be expected, too easy, not to mention make her the same as George and she despised the man, if she could even bother calling him such. No, she had instead reinvented Communism in the Enchanted Forest. The details weren't really important, only the point that every single person in her Kingdom was worked to the bone and only given _exactly_ what they needed to survive, nothing more and never less.

She might very well have been even more hated than if she had gone back to killing everybody that pissed her off and taking the Hearts of everyone else all willy nilly. And the fact that the likes of Snow White and Robin Hood and his Merry Men all 'stole from the rich to give to the poor', well it made them even greater heroes in the face of her Iron Forest regime.

In regards to her hunt for Snow and their maniacal game of cat and mouse, the only thing she did differently was use a greater variety of non-lethal, but still devastating, curses and convoluted conspiracies. Not that her hands remained bloodstain-free, of course. She was the sole monarch of a communist dictatorship. She dealt with assassins, criminals, and people that just plain needed to be put down on a daily basis, there was no getting away from the bloodshed entirely.

But at least she hadn't 'accidentally' wiped out whole villages in her selfish pursuits any longer.

"Hello Regina," Snow's voice sounded out behind her. She pocketed the apple before turning around. The animal-skin clad princess was standing there with her arms raised to show she was unarmed.

"Follow me," she ordered, leading the way out toward the fields.

They walked until they reached the highest hill, both of them silent the whole way.

"Do you remember when we first met, Snow?" Regina asked. "Do you remember when I saved your life?"

"Of course," she said. "It all looks the same."

"Not quite," the Evil Queen interrupted. "I've made… some additions."

A silent gesture was all it took to draw Snow's attention to the… _additions._

"What…" Snow White was suitably shocked at the sight, "Wh-what, _Regina_ , _what is this_?!" she demanded to know.

'This', as it turns out was a stone pavilion, just under ten sq ft in total size, its roof not even reaching seven feet, making it very small and personalized. Personalized in more ways than just its limited size.

At the center of the open-air structure was an object that should not exist in the Enchanted Forest, let alone displaying what it was showing, most would call it impossible. Regina was just glad to have finally taken that Video Editing course, as all the various scenes from the DVD collection Emma had gotten her had been an absolute bitch to put together.

"This, Snow," she said as cruelly as she could, whispering the answer over the raven-haired beauty's shoulder, "is your sins, put on display, for all to see. Past, present, and _future_ sins. Go ahead, take a look. It skips around some, but the message comes across quite clear, I think."

Once Snow was at the center of the structure, the UltraHD LED-Crystal Concave Display Television, which actually showed the images _clearer_ than what an eyewitness would see the scenes as, and High Quality Surround-Sound speakers, all directionally aimed at precisely where the audience of one was standing, it all came alive and began playing the clip-video Regina had put together of 'Snow White's Greatest Sins', taken from the Hub copy of their Loops. She was fortunate that for all intents and purposes the actors they got to 'play' the various characters in said clips looked and sounded like the 'real people'. According to Emma, that was not _always_ the case with the Hub Back-Ups.

She started it off with the undeniable scene from Snow's past where she yells at and slaps a servant for 'daring' to touch the spoiled princess's jewelry. After that, she kind of hodge-podged it, some with scenes that had already come to pass (like when her 'love' had been taken away by a potion from Rumpelstiltskin) and others with scenes yet to come, _after_ Charming wakes her with True Love's Kiss from the cursed apple (such as the time she Darkened her own Heart by killing Regina's mother), all of it culminating on the unforgettable scene where Snow and Charming _curse_ an unborn child with the Darkness present within their own yet-to-be-born offspring before sending her-with two villains-to an unforgiving world of darkness and no magic through a howling vortex.

After the clip show ended, the whole pavilion went silent and still.

Snow stood there, tears streaming down her face.

"Why?" she wailed. "Why show me all that? To torture me? To make me doubt myself? _Why_?!"

"To prove to you, once and for all," Regina growled in the younger woman's face, "that you are _not_ a hero. As much as you try to be, as much as you _will_ try to be; You. Are. Not. Good. I, at least, never made any such claims, my dear. I own up to my sins. I'm the damned _Evil_ Queen, remember? Here." She tossed over the Cursed Apple.

"What is it?" she asked after catching it. "Poisoned? Killed like my Father?"

"You mean the man that took a young girl, not even a full decade older than his only daughter, and made her his Trophy Wife?" Regina snarled back, then calmed herself. "No. It won't kill you. It will put you in an eternal slumber, where you will suffer a living nightmare, having your sins played out for you again and again, while suffering a torment that few can imagine. It is also," she teased out the morsel of hope, reactivating the TV to a very specific scene, _The Scene_ , with a wave of her hand, "what leads to the moment that sets everything you saw in the future here into motion."

Snow watched as Charming stood over her 'corpse' in the glass coffin, give her one final kiss goodbye, only for True Love's Kiss to break the Curse and awaken her. Right before it went through, in fast-motion clips, all the key events leading to sending Maleficent's daughter through to the Real World with Emma's Darkness inside her.

"The Easy path, my dear," Regina whispered over her shoulder again, "is to take me up on a very simple offer. I have your Charming in my dungeon. Say the word, and both of you go free. To another Realm. Never to return. Before you go, however, you'll make a few… announcements to your allies and friends. Confirming once and for all to everyone that matters, that you are not a hero. That you are not _Good_. Or."

Regina turned the girl to face her and gave her the opposite of Emma and Henry's 'Angel Eyes' look, a devilish smirk and a superior look in her eyes, a look that said 'I have everything you desire, just agree with me and it is yours'. She privately dubbed it her 'Devil Queen Glare'.

"Or what?" Snow gulped.

"Or you take a bite of the apple," she spun her back around where the hatching egg falling into the howling vortex was playing on a loop, "And we begin this dark journey of sin. Together."

"What happens if I don't?" the hero-in-crisis wanted to know. "Can this magic mirror of yours show me that?"

"It doesn't need to," Regina shrugged, Devil Queen Glare still going strong. "You'll be living _your_ Happily Ever After with your True Love in another Realm. While all the _other_ people you care about stay here. Abandoned. Under my rule. Their own Happy Endings, forever denied to them. I'd give it five years, max, before your own guilt drove you to fighting with your future husband and father of your children, and eventually that anger will turn to resentment, and then hate, and ultimately loathing and disgust. And the Realm you get sent to, my dear? There will not be any coming back from it. Once there, you'll be stuck there, for the rest of your lives."

"So," Snow shook her head. "I don't really have a choice at all, do I?"

The full clip of all her sins played out one last time.

"You always have a choice, Snow," Regina told her. "The easy, simple, immediate solution, or the right thing to do. It's the only choice any of us ever have."

Regina walked away.

She heard Snow's body drop and the apple vanish into the 'hat portal' before she'd even gotten halfway to the barn.

* * *

"You want to _what_?" the gold-scaled and wiry-haired Dark One queried his newest student.

"Did I stammer? I want to learn the more… subtler sides of magic," Regina repeated her request to Rumpelstiltskin. "Just last week you told me that I was a natural at all of this, these cantrips and simple spells you've been having me practice. I'm not asking for the big spells, but maybe something that isn't _just_ about destruction and domination? For example, what about illusions, memory charms, magic portals or transportation spells and the like?"

"Yes," he said to her, "I did say that. Almost as though you've been doing them for years. Still, a lot more refinement couldn't hurt? Hmhmhmhmhm-hmm," He suddenly giggled, clapping his hands. "Tell you what, Dearie! Show me, right here, right now, that you can _flawlessly_ pull off every spell that I have taught you, and then, oh I don't know, _Surprise Me_! And do something…" the Dark One leered and his hands dropped open so they were very much like a raptor's talons as it went in for the kill, " _Imaginative._ And next week, I'll have a whole new lesson plan for you. _Subtler_ spells, as you put it, Dearie. Now, Begin!"

"I have been practicing, I'll have you know!" Regina 'defended' herself. After the last few Loops trying to get it right, she'd finally figured out where she'd gone wrong. If she progressed 'too quickly' or suddenly demonstrated skill that she really should not have at this stage of the game, Rumpelstiltskin figured she'd either been replaced, or planted to earn his favor as some kind of long con. She was _supposed_ to do poorly on the 'demonstration' portion. What he was really looking for was a spark of potential, the 'imaginative' twist of what she knew, something that he could twist around into the kind of evil genius that he might occasionally bounce ideas off of.

Fortunately, her time(s) in Storybrooke had given her ample opportunity to come up with just the thing. More than a few, if she were being honest.

So, after showing the exact amount of skill in spellcraft that she was *supposed* to have at this point in the timeline, Regina took a deep breath and showed her teacher the 'trick' that she'd been practicing and rehearsing for three or four Loops now. She made a copy of herself, physically speaking, though she did have to make it 'step out of the mirror' for a couple reasons, number one being that she still didn't _quite_ have the power or refined skill to pull off conjuration out of _thin air_. But mostly because doing something like that would be the same as performing every spell flawlessly and would have her facing down the wrath of the Dark One all over again.

"Well," the mirror-copy snarked at the scaled wizard, "do I pass or not?"

The grin on his face was answer enough.

"I knew I'd chosen the right student, hmhmhmmm!" he clapped, then snapped his fingers and violently dispelled her copy. "You've shown that you do indeed have potential. I'll show you what you want, but you'll have to keep up and prove that it is worth the extra work I'm going through for you, dearie. I'll expect you to have each and every spell learned well enough for you to actually use them before the end of the lesson. And, since you now have a stand-in for your… teehee… _queenly duties_ ," he tittered a bit. "You'll have more time for practicing and learning what it is I'm teaching you. Now then, let's begin today's lessons, and then I'll be back tomorrow with some of those… _subtler_ spells that you're asking about."

"Of course," Regina replied, her eyes shining like the eager-and-naive girl she used to be… that she still pretended to be. "Whatever you say, Rumpelstiltskin. I just…" she saw the tick of annoyance enter his expression, and she instantly shifted what she was saying, "I'm ready."

"Good!" he snapped and then began the lesson in earnest.

* * *

Regina stared dumbfounded at the state of the Forbidden Fortress. She'd kind of forgotten just _how much_ of a funk Maleficent had been in during this time. Mostly because she tended to Loop back 'early' and abandoned or avoided all opportunities to become the Evil Queen all over again, or she Looped in after the fact and her 'relationship' with Maleficent had already been cemented, such as it was.

It was… honestly, it was as daunting and surprising to see as it had been the first time around. More so due to the fact that Regina had seen Maleficent *after* this point in her life. When she'd been a powerful witch and even a doting mother. When she hadn't only been confident and powerful, but _happy_.

"Hello?" she called out, doing her best to sound nervous and naive. "Maleficent?"

Of course there was no response, and here was where Regina had a choice to make. First time around, she'd come to Maleficent to learn the 'bigger and better' spells that she felt she hadn't been getting from Rumpelstiltskin. She'd already taken care of that, finding a pattern of behavior and actions which could get the Dark One to teach her almost anything she wanted in almost any order. What she wanted from the human/dragon witch wasn't more magic, or a life lesson. No, she wanted a friend… _her_ friend back. And here in the Enchanted Forest, she was sorely lacking in that department, in spite of her best efforts.

Still, sticking fairly close to the script probably wouldn't hurt, at least insofar as introductions go. "I… I have been studying magic. Basic stuff, really. But, I uh… I thought that, well…" she added a gulp here, "perhaps you can show me some things? More useful things, maybe?" She stopped herself from rambling on any further as she stepped further into the mess that was the main sitting room.

" _Why don't you show me what you've learned. and light that fireplace_?" a disembodied voice echoed out from the minimal shadows of the stone room.

Fireballs were so easy to Regina by this point that she spent more effort in making it look like she was struggling than she did in utilizing them. Glancing over to see an adequate fuel source in place, she spent but a few moments deciding on exactly _how_ she'd go about setting it on fire, before finally just deciding and snapped her gloved fingers, sparking the kindling and within moments a roaring fire had filled the hearth.

"That was ridiculous," came the slurred voice of a disheveled and stumbling (possibly drunk) blond in a purple and black gown. "But it'll do."

Regina was near speechless as she watched the human-form dragon stumble toward the chair nearest the fireplace. "Ahh, that feels nice," she said, reaching out and feeling the heat of the fire. "I haven't had a proper fire in… years."

And then the black-haired 'queen' watched as she reached over to grab a vial of a concoction that made her want to grab it and throw it into the fireplace. She was more than half tempted to do just that, but she'd finally gotten Rumple to teach her some of the more varied nuances behind memory charms and potions and their counters, and she didn't want to start all over after another Loop and a half by risking Maleficent's wrath from taking away her designer drug from her _while_ she was using it. Although, given the effects of a mixture of seawater, toadstool, and a single drop of Sleeping Curse, there would probably be no _better_ time to try and take it away from her.

"Is that really necessary?" she reprimanded the dragon witch instead.

"It takes the edge off," came the sluggish reply as she pricked her fingers with the potion-laced needle, before corking it and chuckled as she leaned back, as though to pose before throwing down her arms in her self-disgust. "What's the matter, dear? I'm not everything you expected?"

Knowing from first hand experience just how cathartic it could be to vent to a friendly (and sometimes even not-so-friendly) ear, Regina asked her, "What happened to you?"

"A rose," Maleficent answered, before snarling, "A _Briar Rose_."

Regina nodded in sympathy, replying, "The one you put under a Sleeping Curse."

"Until King Stefan, the square-jawed, undid all my work with _True Love's Kiss_ ," she whined (and no matter what was said to the contrary, it was a whine, Regina decided). "Do you know what? I don't even care anymore."

The Once and Future Evil Queen frowned, watching as her (soon-to-be) friend reapplied the potion to her fingertips. She recalled being very frightened of the response she got to what she was about to say, but then she'd been a truly naive and _young_ child. She was not about to let Maleficent kick her out, not when she knew precisely what to do to help her friend out.

"The Maleficent I've heard about, who I've _read about_ ," Regina tossed the book she'd been holding all this time to the floor at the blond's feet, "She would never just… _give up_! Not because of just one set back. No, my dear," she stepped forward, putting her hands on her hips, "you need to remember who you really are. And I'm just the person to help you do that."

Maleficent launched herself out of the chair, her hands held out like talon's at the 'upstart's throat. Regina only allowed herself to retreat three paces, putting them still within range of damaging the dragon witch's things if she got _too_ out of control.

"That Maleficent had a foul temper, and if you insulted her, she'd turn into a dragon and eat your flesh!" she snarled at Regina during the chase, before stopping. "It's a good thing for you I already had breakfast." Actually, Regina judged it was a 'good thing' that she'd come when the depressed witch was high, as her buzz seems to have combined with the physical activity into nausea. "Take your dusty book and get out of my castle."

Regina waited until she'd turned around before asking, "And what happens if I don't, my dear?"

"Then I will have fed _very_ well today," Maleficent threatened as she stumbled over to her chair.

There really wasn't anything more she could do with Maleficent in this state. She sighed, walked over to pick up her book… and then set it on the table beside the cordial of magical opium. Make the woman actually _think_ , rather than be shoved into the whole scenario. She also left a subtle curse on it that ensured she couldn't just destroy the book outright. It was a one-of-a-kind book after all!

"Very well then, my dear," Regina said, ever the proper queen, "I shall leave you to your _wallowing_. I'm sure you've already heard about Briar Rose and Stefan's daughter, Aurora, and her own True Love are getting married soon?"

"I said, _get out_!" Maleficent yelled, losing patience.

"I am going," Regina replied. "I'll be back tomorrow though. So, do try and tidy up a bit, if you don't mind? I'll just say this, Maleficent; your story is not finished yet. There is still more for you to do."

And with those parting words, Regina 'poofed' away in a cloud of violet mist.

* * *

Snow White and her Prince Charming had gotten it into their Idiot Heads to try and take back the Kingdom, after defeating her Sleeping Curse with a 'kiss goodbye'. They were now rallying all the villages to raise an army to face off against her legion of Black Knights and the army of King George.

Of course, things had only gotten to this point because Regina allowed them to. She had a new… toy that she wanted to get Snow White's reaction to on record. In hindsight, having by now seen the _real_ Excalibur, Regina found it hard to believe the simple, however ordained, double-sided blade had ever fooled her. First, she had to set the scene, having already 'faced off' against Snow and Charming in their recruitment efforts once, she made sure to pay close attention for when her husband tricked Snow into believe that simple sword wedged into a forest rock was the Legendary Excalibur. Then she made her appearance.

"Well dear, have you packed your bags?" Regina put on hand on her black leather clad hips. At least she'd dressed for a fight this round. She recalled the original time this scene played out, she'd been dressed in one of her tight, revealing, all black numbers that she could hardly do anything except walk in.

Snow glanced down at the simple sword in her hands, before stepping forward to say, "I've thought about your offer. And everything you said was true. I could go off with Charming and the Dwarves and we could find some lovely corner of the world to live out our days and it would be a _wonderful_ life."

Regina looked on expectantly.

"But I _can't_ leave my people," Snow confessed. "Not. With. _You_."

"Well, in that case," Regina smirked and threw off her cloak, and manifested her _Way To The Dawn_ Keyblade in a flash of light. The bat-winged sharp blade, highlighted with a set of pure white wings as the 'teeth' and 'hilt-guard' gleamed in the afternoon light. "I noticed you have a new sword there, dear. Magic, perhaps? So let's do this the old fashioned way, with all these people as witnesses. A duel. Your 'magic sword' against _mine_. Winner takes the Kingdom without a fight?"

"You're on!" Snow declared confidently.

"Uh, Snow..." Charming gulped as he realized his plan to give his wife more confidence, by presenting her with a _fake_ Sword-In-The-Stone, might have just blown up in his face.

Regina just grinned and spun her Keyblade into the ready position. She would still 'let' the little girl win. In the end. Until then, she fully intended to put the girl's sword skills to the test, and then some.

* * *

Regina had been captured by Snow's forces. It was… interesting. Whatever tactics or strategy, or even exotic and unique tools for her soldiers to use, Snow and Charming's ragtag army just took one look at it, or suffered one single retreating defeat, and then came back with whole new tactics and strategies they'd never used before, but perfectly routed her own forces.

It had certainly forced her to up her game as a military commander, but she'd never felt that was her calling in the first place.

Currently she was in the tower prison, merely a day after her halted execution. She was just grateful that Snow had changed her mind at the last second. There were some Loops where she _didn't_ and Regina found herself back in Storybrooke before she could even begin thinking of how to handle the Dark Curse.

This scenario was at least familiar to the captured queen. It was when, originally before the Loops, she'd first entertained the idea of finally casting the Dark Curse Rumpelstiltskin had given her, which she'd then traded for the Sleeping Curse. When it had been revealed that Snow and Charming were immune to harm from her, while in the Enchanted Forest at least.

This time around, Regina thought she might toy with her enemy's head just a bit.

"Leave us please," Snow ordered the guard in front of Regina's cell.

"But I'm under direct orders from the Prince…" he protested.

"And now you have direct orders from _me_ ," the Princess countered.

"... Yes, Princess," the guard acknowledged and left.

"First," Regina broke the silence that followed the man's departure, "you stop my execution, and then you defy your Prince to see me. Should I be worried there's trouble in paradise?"

"I'm not here to talk about my fiance," said Snow.

"I think you mean 'husband', but lets not debate semantics, Snow," Regina sighed. "Why are you here?"

"You weren't always like this, Regina," she told her. "The woman who saved my life all those years ago, had good in her. Regina, there is Good in you."

"That woman you speak of," Regina retorted. "She lost much. Much more than you can even fathom. That woman is gone now."

"Maybe," Snow shrugged. "As hard as you have tried to bury her, _I_ think she's still inside of you."

"Maybe," Regina shrugged in reply. "But I highly doubt that."

"All you need," Snow said with a knowing smirk on her ruby lips, as she walked over and unlocked then opened the cell door, "is someone to help you let her out."

The raven-haired woman in drab gray prison clothes had to admit it, no matter how many times she saw it happen, it was always surprising to see Snow do this. She got to her feet and walked over to stand in front of her mortal enemy.

"What do you think you're doing, Snow?" she whispered into the other woman's face.

"I'm letting the woman who saved my life go," Snow answered, uncomfortably aware of Regina invading her personal space. "This is a chance to start fresh, Regina. To leave the _evil_ behind, in this cell."

Regina stepped closer, so they were both bosom to bosom in the doorway.

"Just like that?"

"Just like that," Snow nodded and smiled, in spite of any discomfort on her part.

Rather than move on or try to leave, Regina just gave Snow her Devil Queen Glare, before almost daintily taking Snow's gloved left hand and raising it to show the knife hidden there. She shifted her look to the one she tended to use on her one-night-stands here in the Enchanted Forest, while saying, "I think we can get rid of this, don't you?"

Tossing the knife to the side before going in for the kill, so to speak, by kissing Snow full on the lips. The younger woman squeaked and squealed in protest, slapping ineffectually against the woman who was essentially her Step- _Mother_!

Grinning, Regina pulled back and wiped the spittle from her lips, saying as she sashayed out of her cell, commenting, "Hm, not bad, not bad. Your daughter kisses better though. See you around, Snow."

As she passed by the aforementioned fiance and his guards, she reached out and closed the blond man's mouth. "Enjoy that, did you, Charming? Comport yourself, man. It is unbecoming in the future king."

Regina laughed all the way back to her castle. The looks on their faces, totally worth it!

* * *

Regina walked into the Forbidden Fortress, bottle of wine in hand. She'd just come from Snow and Charming's wedding by way of her own castle. She had given the same speech, made the threat of the Dark Curse, put the fear of the Evil Queen back into the people.

The only problem was… she had _no idea_ how she was going to do it.

Hence, why she was here, at her friend's place. Not only to get the Dark Curse back but to also her input in how to activate it in the first place. After all, while she still loved and treasured her father, and all the time these Loops had given her with him, he was no longer the One she Loved The Most.

That particular honor fell to her son Henry, and his mother Emma in almost equal measures.

She needed help. Because, she'd learned the hard way, there was no getting back to Storybrooke unless she was either killed, or the Curse got cast. Guess how many times _that_ had happened. Short answer; _None_!

"How are you dear?" Maleficent asked as she poured them both some wine from the bottle Regina had brought with her.

"I'm doing fine," she replied, taking a moment to appreciate the spirits before taking a small sip.

"Are you?" the blond said as she got herself settled in the other chair before the fireplace. "If it were me, I'd be simply tortured, watching the _flake of snow_ , so happy. Weren't you about the same age when you were about to run off with your own True Love and elope, before she ruined it all?" She grinned wickedly as she grabbed the bottle to refill her own goblet, adding, "Yes, you were."

"Yes, it was about the same age you were, when that _thorny rose_ got the best of you, my dear Maleficent," the black-haired villain replied in kind.

"It was _Briar Rose_ ," she huffed. "But I soldiered on. As I hope you will too."

"Oh, enough with the games," Regina rolled her eyes. "You know why I'm here, Mal. I need the Dark Curse back."

"It's not yours anymore," she replied automatically. "A deal is a deal. I traded you-"

"Nothing that I didn't already have," Regina interrupted her. "I gave it to you, so that You Know Who wouldn't know where I was keeping it. Just please tell me it _is_ still in your possession?"

"The Dark Curse?" Maleficent silently nodded her head. "Really? You must know that even its unholy power cannot bring your dead lover back to life."

"We never slept together," Regina downed the last of her wine. "But that is beside the point, and not what I want to do with it."

"Have you considered a pet?" the blond reached out and caressed the muzzle of her twilight-black unicorn pony. "They can be quite comforting."

Regina took a deep breath and looked away. Looking back, she said as plainly as she could, "The only comfort that I desire is what the Dark Curse can grant me. Now," she cast a large scale obscuring spell as well as every privacy enchantment and protection that she could on such short notice with only her own magic, "how secure is this place, and is there anywhere that we can talk freely? So that not even the Dark One could overhear, or learn of what we speak?"

"How real do you want to make this look?" her friend whispered back, still drawing comfort from her pet.

"So long as the Dark Curse is in my hands before I leave, I don't think he'll much care whether we fight over it or if I seduce it out of you. Knowing him though, he'd much rather see me fight you, thereby cutting my ties with you. My problem is that I need your help in order to make it work, and before you say anything, not in _that_ way."

"Why doesn't he suspect anything?" Maleficent asked, obscuring her lips with her wineglass, of which she had yet to take a single sip. "Moved on to someone else that can cast his curse?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Regina admitted. "But I suspect it has something to do with his ability to see the future. He sees me and only me casting his curse, and he's molded everything around it to that end. When I fail, whether he's imprisoned or not, he'll kill me. To be honest with you, I'd be more than willing to just kill myself to avoid that fate, but I don't want to get into the habit."

"Excuse me?"

"Never mind," Regina shook her head. "You wouldn't believe me anyway."

"Considering what you just admitted to, I might," Maleficent sighed, and then surged to her feet, staff in hand. "Come on. I've warded my workshop as much as I can, even got the Coven of the Eight to lend a spell or two. It should last for one conversation, I should think."

"Lead the way," Regina gestured, grabbing the only half-empty wine bottle on her way.

A few hours later, Regina had finished explaining… well, everything to Maleficent.

"I don't believe you," the dragon witch shook her head.

"Told you," the three-sheets-to-the-wind Regina slurred in reply.

"A _daughter_?!" she exclaimed.

"You, or Snow?" Regina was confused about the sudden change of topic.

"Me!" she snapped. "I couldn't care less about that newlywed princess!"

"Oh, right, Lilith, Lily," the raven-haired sorceress nodded her head. "Yeah, by the way, don't go to the Charmings to get their help in stopping my Curse. Bad end. My…*urhrlrp*!... my problem now!"

"Bucket's in the corner," the distracted demi-dragon declared, not deigning to pay any attention.

"Thanks!" Regina gasped as she barely made it.

After the alcohol was out of the Looper's system, (honestly, twice her weight in the stuff was too much, no matter how much liquid-courage she needed), the two villains sat down and started trying to figure out the solution to their problem(s). Number one, keeping Maleficent's egg safe from well-meaning-yet-overly-worried parents. And numbers two through infinity, allowing Regina to successfully recast the Dark Curse, when all of the people that she 'cared most about' were yet-to-be-born. And maybe even tweak the Dark Curse a bit so she could go straight from the Enchanted Forest to Storybrooke without having to be killed by the Dark One to get there.

Of course the idea of making Maleficent her Deputy Mayor did come up quite a few times, not to mention other changes. Like making Snow White in charge of garbage pick-up rather than a school teacher, and other such things. Unfortunately, it would all be pointless if she was unable to cast the damned thing in the first place!

Unfortunately, even after nearly a thousand Loops, Regina was nowhere close to modifying the Dark Curse to work for her anymore. And so every single one of her Enchanted Forest Loops ended either with her death, or something else if she never became Rumpelstiltskin's student, nor the Evil Queen. Considering she more often Awoke after having already _become_ the Evil Queen, that did not hold well for her future loops.

END (2 of 2)


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